Citation Success:
What does it mean & how do
you achieve it?
Graham H. Pyke
School of the Environment
University of Technology Sydney
I dedicate this lecture to my
parents, Tom and Margery Pyke
Citation Success:
My message today
• Citations matter, both to individuals and their
institutions, hugely now & even more in
future;
• I have (credibly) worked out the ‘secrets’ to
citation success;
• I plan to provide some further guidance in
the future.
However …
• I am not claiming that counting
citations is the only, or the best,
thing to do
• That might be a topic for some
other occasion
What are citations?
• A reference within a presentation (written or
oral) to another presentation
• Reference identifies author(s) & location of
presentation
• Points to another presentation that provides
relevant material (supporting, inspiring,
incorrect, disliked etc)
=> Importance of citations
Importance of Citations
Citations are fundamentally important because
….
Each citation indicates an influence of the original
presentation on another
And hence
The accumulated number of citations to a
particular presentation provides a measure of its
total influence
Citations vs Contribution to literature
Citations & Influence (i.e., Contribution, Impact
etc) are generally correlated
BUT
• Specific to different areas
(e.g., Ecology\ Environment vs Medicine)
• Poorly correlated in some areas
(e.g., Systematics\ Taxonomy)
Citations:
Today’s focus vs Other things
• Research (not other scholarly activities)
• Publications of articles in journals and books
(not other presentations)
However …
Much of what I have to say is relevant to all
kinds of scholarly activity and presentation
Keeping count of citations:
Initially a research tool
• Eugene Garfield – from ~1960
• Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)
• Scientific Citation Index (SCI)
=>Later other citation indices
• Current Contents
Tables of contents for journals (initially several hundred for
biology & medicine)
Author contact details
Keyword index
‘Citation Classics’
Manual to computer-based
Counting Citations:
Some basic issues
• Publication venues
• Date period for original published articles
• Date period for citations
=>Different approaches
• Self-citations (author, institution, country)
• Disambiguation of names (authors,
journals, institutions)
=>General approaches
Citation Information:
What are the sources?
• Scopus
• Web of Knowledge (includes ISI indices
& others)
• Google Scholar
All scholarly publications
Time periods without limit
=>Hence …
Includes highest % of published articles
(~95% in my case vs ~60% for others)
Gives highest citation counts (~6500 in my
case vs about ~5000 for the others)
Evaluations using Citations
•
•
•
•
Article
Journal
Author
Institution
Citation evaluation: Articles
• Time course of
citations
• Evaluation
criteria
Total
Immediacy
Recent
‘Highly-cited’
Citation evaluation: Journals
• Impact Factor
= Average number of
citations per recent
article
• Ranking
Authors &
institutions target
journals with
highest impact
factors
• Very High ~20
Science
Nature
• High
~10
• Others
Citation evaluation: Authors
• Total citations
• Avg citations per published article
• Hirst- or H-index
= Number N such that author has published N
articles with at least N citations each
=>Total citations & H-index increasingly reported
& used
Citation evaluation: Authors
• Position
• Tenure/ Promotion
• Funding (e.g., grants)
Citation evaluation: Institutions
• Indices & rankings influence student
enrolments, funding, donations &
bequests
• Both international & national
• They all include citations
Shanghai Jiao Tong Index
(aka Academic Ranking of World
Universities)
• Innocent beginnings, now big business
• Criteria:
Nobel Prizes/ Fields Medals (30%)
Highly-cited Researchers (20%)
Articles in Nature & Science (20%)
Science Citation Index & Social Sciences Citation
Index (20%)
Per capita academic performance re citations
(10%)
• UTS World Rank
according to SJT :
Up till 2010 2011 2012 -
>500
487
460
• Highly-cited authors
HIGHLY-CITED AUTHORS AT UTS
UTS & the SJT Index
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
03 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012
20
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
YEAR
# highly-cited authors:
Putting it in perspective
•
•
•
•
•
•
UTS
4
Macquarie Uni
5
Uni of Sydney
7
Uni of Melb
10
ANU
17
Harvard / Stanford ~100
Citation Success:
Who cares?
• Universities
• Other Agencies (e.g., Funding)
• Colleagues
• Individuals
Citations matter, for everyone,
now and will matter increasingly
in the future
Citations:
A fundamental conclusion
Both individual authors, and their
institutions, will need to pay
increasing attention to citations and
adopt strategies aimed at enhancing
them.
Such strategies should reinforce one
another.
Citations:
A strategy for individual success?
• The good news is that ….
There is a strategy, suitable for anyone,
that should lead to enhanced citation
success
Citation Success: Why listen to me?
• Relevant experience & achievements
BUT …
• Vaguely aware in past, but paid negligible
attention
• Thinking/ talking about it since Nov 2011
• Commenced analysing my own citations just a
few days ago
SO …
• My past was independent of any consideration
of citation success or how to achieve it
Citation Success: Why listen to me?
• #’s Citations
~ 6,500 in total
‘ISI Highly-cited’ Author
Citation Success:
Why listen to me?
25
#’s citations per
published article
H-index 34
COUNT
Consistently high
20
15
10
5
0
0
1
2
3
LOG10 (# CITATIONS)
4
Citation Success:
Why listen to me?
• Four highly-cited authors
• Co-authored articles
with other highlycited authors
Ric Charnov
Paul Ehrlich
Ron Pulliam
Nick Waser
• Senior author for 3 of 4 articles
(excl. book reviews etc)
Citation Success: Why listen to me?
• Other ‘highly-cited’
authors as colleagues
• Other Universities
• UTS –
Geoff Anstis (Materials
Science)
John Geweke
(Economics/ Business)
Matt Wand
(mathematics)
Citation Success:
Why listen to me?
• Personal experience
• Comparing notes with others
• Limited analysis
All these lead to the same conclusions
Citations: The ‘secrets’ to success
My ‘Secrets’ should lead to both:
Enhanced citation success
Enhanced contribution to literature
My ‘Secrets’ are not profound (obvious,
straightforward, universally applicable) and yet
highly profound at the same time (rarely well
adopted)
Citation Success:
Format for what follows
• For each ‘secret’ …
Recipe
Example from my research
Citation Success:
Secret #1 - Recipe
SIGNIFICANCE re issue or question
(Prospective vs. retrospective)
Choose an issue or question (prospective) or set
your work within a context (retrospective) of high
significance (i.e., importance, relevance, usefulness)
… the higher the better
… but need to credible
Citation Success:
Secret #1 - Example
• Question:
Why do animals (& other organisms)
forage (or feed) the way they do?
Citation Success:
Secret #1 - Example
Significant because …
All organisms ‘forage’;
Foraging is important to individual organisms;
Foraging often a major activity re time & energy;
Including foraging is necessary for understanding
other phenomena & patterns
(e.g., other aspects of behaviour, population
dynamics, inter-species interactions, structure of
communities, patterns of co-evolution).
Citation Success:
Secret #2 - Recipe
INFLUENCE of publication or presentation
(Looking forward or looking back)
Seek to have as much influence as possible, through
changing how people think, what they say, and what
they do.
Citation Success:
Secret #2 - Example
• Question:
Why do animals (& other
organisms) forage the way they
do?
• Approach advocated:
Optimal Foraging Theory
• Influence sought:
Adopt the approach
Citation Success:
Secret #3 - Recipe
PRESENTATIONS
(Looking backwards)
Give presentations that are
captivating, compelling &
memorable.
Citation Success:
Secret #3 - Example
My publications re Optimal
Foraging Theory
This lecture?
Citation Success:
Secret #4 - Recipe
SUSTAIN the approach
Don’t just do it; keep doing it.
Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example
• My citations
Citation Success: Secret #4 - Example
Seeking to influence
# journal articles
Min # citations
Max # citations
Avg # citations
S.E.
Yes
21
0
1833
217
93
No
66
0
161
25
4
Citation Success:
The Secrets in Summary
• SIPS …
Significance
Influence
Presentation
Sustained
• Really …
Approach or Mindset
• What else ….
Tools
Mentoring or Advice
Citation Success:
Tools #1 - Significance
• Identify questions &/or issues
• Hierarchy
• Evaluate
Citation Success:
Tools #1 - Example
• Why do animals forage the way they do?
• Do animals forage in ways that are consistent
with Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT)?
• Do bumblebees forage in ways that maximise Net
Rate of Energy Intake?
• Is the foraging behaviour of bumblebee species X,
while taking nectar from flowers of plant sp Y, in
location Z, consistent with this hypothesis?
• Different aspects of foraging behaviour (e.g.,
choice, departure, movement)
Citation Success:
Tools #1 - Significance
• Evaluation criteria
Level
Interest
Achievable
Simple & Clear
Credible
• Scoring system
=> Hierarchical Context with Significance
Max at each Level
Citation Success:
Tool #1 – The end result
Issues/ questions of high significance to either
pursue or use as context for work already
undertaken
Citation Success:
Tools #2 - Influence
• Who?
• What?
• How?
Citation Success:
Tools #2 - Example
• Question: Why do organisms
forage the way they do?
• Who?
All ecologists & behaviourists
& ??
Citation Success:
Tools #2 - Influence
• Question: Why do organisms forage
the way they do?
• What influence?
Adopt the OFT approach.
Citation Success:
Tools #2 - Influence
• Question: Why do organisms forage
the way they do?
• How?
Review the literature, critically &
constructively, & provide examples of
successful application of OFT approach
Citation Success:
Tool #2: Influence – The end result
Plan with targeted audience, goal in terms of
influence, methods for achieving goal
Influence: What about it?
Seeking to influence is the most important
aspect of achieving citation success
Influence requires a mission, passion,
arrogance & confidence
Citation Success:
Tool #3 - Presentation
• Standard approach …
Logical
KISS
Short
Concise
• Plus extras …
Captivating
Compelling
Memorable
Presentation:
Graham’s Standard Approach to
writing
• Logical order of simple points
• These are lead sentences of separate
paragraphs
• One point per paragraph
Applies to articles, reviews, grant proposals,
reports etc
Test & Consequences
Writing:
Test & Consequences
Test
Combine lead sentences of each
paragraph into single body of text.
Convey ‘story’ simply & completely
Understandable to almost anyone.
Writing:
Test & Consequences
Consequences
Basis for abstract or summary
(Emphasise introduction, discussion &
conclusion)
Basis for being captivating, compelling &
memorable
Citation Success:
Presentations – The Extra Stuff
Captivating
• Focus on reader
 Attention
 Read on
• Progression
 Title
 Abstract/ Summary
 Introduction
Citation Success:
Presentations – The Extra Stuff
Compelling & Memorable
• What …
Convey …
Significance
Influence
• How …
Brainstorm – title, major points
Show to colleague, friend etc
Citation Success:
Presentations
Present story that is captivating,
compelling and memorable, in a
simple, concise and logical manner.
Citation Success:
Tools #4 - Sustaining what it takes
• Work position & environment
• Determination & passion
• Balance in life
Citation Success:
The strategy so far
• Approach (SIPS) = Mindset
• Tools
=>Mentoring
Citation Success:
Mentoring
Seek the best possible mentoring & take
advantage of any resulting advice or other
assistance
Work in pairs or groups
Citation Success:
Strategy at a glance
• Adopt the SIPS approach
Significance
Influence
Presentation
Sustain
• Within an overall ATM strategy
Approach
Tools
Mentoring
Citation Success:
No better alternative
Citation Success:
Graham’s further advice & assistance
• Who?
From stage of developing first research
project to still wishing to have influence
I.e., Postgrad students to Professors
(including myself!)
Citation Success:
Graham’s further advice & assistance
• How?
Mentoring
Train the trainer
Workshops
Written step-wise program
Citation Success:
Graham’s further advice & assistance
• When?
=>New year ≥ Feb or Mar
• Notification
=>New year ≥ Jan or Feb
Citation Success vs Quality of research
(or other scholarly activity)
•
•
•
•
Significance
Influence
Presentation
Sustain
=>Improved quality of research (or
other scholarly activity)
=> Other endeavours?
Citation Success:
Final Comment
Adopting the recommended approach & tools
should lead to both enhanced citation success
and improved research quality
=>Therefore worth doing regardless of how
academic landscape may change in the future
Citation Success:
Balance in Life
Citation Success:
Balance in Life