A comparative analysis of frequently and infrequently cited documents in information science by functions performed and citation frequency of citing documents

This study looks for factors which may explain frequency and nature of use of documents in citing document texts. The main question is whether groups of frequently and infrequently cited papers are used for different functions by authors who use them. In addition the research explores whether the citing papers are used with different frequencies, whether authors from different disciplines differ in their functional uses of documents, whether there is a difference in the citation frequency distributions and multiple mentions of the two groups of papers over time and whether journals in which both groups of documents are used differ by their frequencies of use.; Frequently and infrequently cited articles were identified from articles published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science in 1972, 1973, and 1974. The uses of the documents in 417 citing contexts were examined by classification taxonomies which had been developed by Murugesan and Moravcsik, Peritz, Chubin and Moitra, and Spiegel-Rosing.; The questions, hypotheses, and findings were related to citing models derived from cognitive and social theories of communication. The data were analyzed using chi square and t-test.; The conclusions are as follows: (1) Frequently and infrequently cited documents are not used for significantly different functions, (2) Authors from different disciplines appear to use cited documents for different functions, (3) There is a tendency toward a positive relationship between the citation levels of cited and citing articles, (4) Frequently cited articles appear more tightly linked (essential) than infrequently cited documents to their citing documents, (5) While frequently cited articles are not judged more useful than infrequently cited articles initially, over time differences in the patterns and intensity of use develop, and (6) While the two groups of articles are cited by the same journals, the frequency with which the articles are used in the top citing journals significantly differs. The analysis suggests that a social communications model is appropriate for citing of frequently cited papers and a cognitive communications model is appropriate for citing of infrequently cited papers.