A CITATION ANALYSIS OF ARTICLES IN SERIES

A study of 100 series of articles in science and technology examined how well members of a series cite each other. Citations from one article to another were either excellent, good, fair, poor, or nonexistent, depending on how much information could be gotten about the cited article from the citing article. It was found that 11% of all possible citations from earlier to later articles in a series—foward citations—were excellent, good, or fair. 73% of citations from later to earlier articles—retrospective citations—were excellent, good, or fair. It is recommended that the author of a series clearly point readers to at least one retrospective member of the series and that readers use a four‐step method to identify all members of a given series.