Having obtain

Having obtained a published work to support the research, the genealogy of the selected work is of importance when 

researching a topic thoroughly. Citation searching is similar to creating a family tree in finding who begat whom or, at 

least, which work influenced another. It is carried out in tandem with database and other searches. 

Citation searching works on the basis of who cited whom in their work. This means that it is a case of working backwards 

and forwards in time to find where a particular work has been cited: 

•  Working backwards in time: following up the citations given in the article 

•  Working forwards in time: finding out where the article has been cited 

Figure 7.1 shows how related works link by their references. It also demonstrates the complexity of the task. Imagine how 

Work 11 is discovered: this might be achieved by finding the reference made to it in Work 2. A researcher would not directly 

find Work 11 by reading the Starting point work. However, if they read Work 2 which is cited in the Starting point work, 

they would then discover Work 11 (dotted line). 

Citation searching is a process of finding works that are related, sometimes closely, by discovering those an author used 

(and referenced) when writing their own. 

 The reasons for performing a citation search 

There are many reasons why a researcher may perform a citation search: 

•  Finding the original work(s) on which an idea or research is based 

•  Finding reactions to a work 

•  Finding works that are closely related 

•  Finding authors working in a similar field 

•  Following up further developments in that field 

•  Retrieving information about corrections or retractions of published work 

•  Mapping trends in research 

•  Identifying emerging research areas 

•  Finding the frequency and the publications where works have been cited 

•  Finding the impact of one author's work on others' work 

•  Finding the effect of research 

•  Finding the influence of research on innovation, particularly when search-

ing citations in a patent 

•  Finding background information in a chosen topic 

•  When experiencing difficulties in discovering works using subject keyword 

searching 

Lawrence et al. argue that citation indexing also improves communication (Lawrence et al. 1999: 67).