The
Metrics Toolkit defines article citations as follows - "The number of times that a journal article or preprint has appeared in the reference list of other articles or books.". Even though citation counts are regularly used by scholars, it is important to know how use these metrics appropriately. The
Metrics Toolkit provides an excellent overview.
- Citations can be used to measure of research impact.
- Using citations to measure research impact works the best in the STEM research fields.
- Typically, the citation rate for an article is at its highest level two to six years following publication.
- It is not recommended to compare citation rates between research disciplines.