درباره رابطه میان استنادات و ظواهر در "25" لیست دانلود مجله بین المللی سیستم های اطلاعات حسابداری

Citations from existing sources like the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) have long been used to evaluate impact and importance of research. However, in addition to SSCI becoming digital, additional citation sources have been developed, such as SCOPUS and Google Scholar. Further, information now is available regarding papers that are among the most frequently downloaded, providing a new potential measure of impact and importance. This paper analyzes the use of digital and web citations, and newly available digital download information in the form of “top 25” most downloaded paper lists for the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems. This paper finds that any of the number of three types of “downloads” (abstract, paper and denied accesses) are highly correlated with each other. Further, in an analysis of the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems papers in “top 25” downloads, this paper finds that the number of citations and the number of times that a paper is in a “top 25” of downloaded papers are statistically significantly correlated. Finally, this paper finds that the set of “top 25” downloaded papers has a disproportionate number of citations.

Research paper importance, usage or interest is often equated with citations (e.g., Garfield and Welljam-Dorof 1992). Historically, citation analysis required obtaining book versions of the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). This meant trudging across campus to the library to try and establish citations. However, the world of publishing and citations has become digital. Recently SSCI information became available in digital format on the Internet, as the “ISI Web of Knowledge.” As a result, information about citations is easily and relatively universally available. In addition, many journals are now available in digital format on the Internet. This availability has made it possible for digital citations from other citation sources, e.g., SCOPUS. Further, research papers are increasingly available on the Internet. Individuals and publishers post digital versions of papers to the Internet so that others may have easy access to them. That has opened up the possibility that citations could be gathered from papers available on the web with the introduction of Google Scholar Beta. The movement to a digital environment has also opened new opportunities to assess paper usage and importance. In particular, information about the extent to which a paper is downloaded can be gathered. The number of downloads or the appearance of a paper among a set of top 25 most downloaded papers can provide another measure of importance, usage or interest. As a result, ease of access to citation information has increased and we have new information about paper downloads that can be gathered and used to evaluate the use and importance of the paper. Unfortunately, it is not clear how different versions of these citations sources and downloads relate to each other. For example, what is the relationship between the number of citations gathered by SSCI, SCOPUS and Google Scholar, or what is the relationship between the number of citations of any of those sources and download information? Further, are there more or less citations associated with top 25 downloaded papers?

“Digital” versions of research papers are now widely available. Individuals can post their research papers to the Internet for general access. Journals also provide easily accessible digital versions of their papers on the Internet. These events have led to the ability to generate new information that can facilitate evaluation of research. For example, SSCI now has citation information available in a digital format, rather than just hard copies. Competitors, such as SCOPUS and others have generated their own digital citation information. Google Scholar has come out with a new service that captures citation information available on the web. Further, some digitally available journals now post their “top 25” download lists. This research investigated those developments and found ▪ Downloads of three different forms (abstract, paper and denied access) are highly correlated. ▪ Top 25 download lists reflect “recentness” affects and the number of “older” papers gradually declines. ▪ For the sample of top 25 downloads, the number of citations from different citation sources are highly correlated. ▪ For the sample of top 25 downloads, the number of citations from different sources and the number of appearances on top 25 download lists is highly correlated. ▪ For the sample of top 25 lists, the number of citations is related to time whereas number of appearances on top 25 download lists is not. ▪ For the sample of top 25 lists, the proportion of the number of citations is statistically significantly higher than the proportion of the sample of articles, for both SSCI and SCOPUS citations.