Background to cited reference search

What is cited reference searching

Cited reference search is a functionality of an increasing number of databases.

Citation searching includes the process of tracking research backwards in time. Citation searching allows you to track research strands to current practice, identify gaps in the research, and see how often an author or work has been cited. Knowing how often an author has been cited can give an indication of their standing in the field and may help you discern the quality of a paper. Use cited reference searching for a quick set of results with great currency for your literature review, or for advanced analysis, comparison and tracking.

Citation reference searching in practice

Cited reference searching is the process of tracking research backwards and forwards in time. When viewing an article in a citation database, the full citation will list references used by the author to write that paper. From this list you can link to any articles indexed in that database. If an article is not indexed in that database, it will not be linked.

  • In practice, you can start with a seminal article by a key author, Cited Reference Searching finds the listed literature citing that article.
  • Cited Reference Searching finds up to the minute articles and papers for your literature review quickly.
  • Find the listing of your article in a database, then locate the 'Cited by' link, and click to display the literature.

At QUT Library there are a number of citation databases available, including:

  • Google Scholar allows linking under any item listing to 'Cited by' articles, and has a 'Search within citing articles' option.
  • Scopus allows a simple 'Cited by' as well as advanced options.
  • Web of Science allows a simple 'Times Cited' as well as a comprehensive Cited Reference Search.
  • IEEE Xplore, for electrical engineering, computer science and electronics, provides 'Cited by' searching and 'Citation Map' navigation.
  • CiteSeer focuses primarily on the literature in computer and information science. CiteSeerX provides autonomous citation indexing, statistics and context.

Activity – Conduct a cited reference search

  1. Choose a seminal journal article in your research area.
  2. Conduct an article title / cited reference search in Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science.
  3. Find the 'Cited by' link and click it to display the literature citing your article. At this point you could select relevant items, save the search or export the results to Endnote.
  4. Compare the results from each tool to consider which citation database(s) are best for your research.