Evaluating Citation Analysis: Introduction to the Special Issue

• Published date: 01 August 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862231175557
• Author: Ellen G. Cohn,John L. Worrall
• Date: 01 August 2023

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862231175557

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2023, Vol. 39(3) 324 –326

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862231175557

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Editorial

Evaluating Citation

Analysis: Introduction

to the Special Issue

In recent years, interest in scholarly influence has grown, as has interest in different

ways to measure the impact that scholars, works, university departments, and journals

have on their field. One of the most common methods of measuring scholarly influ-

ence appears to be citation analysis. It is found in such diverse academic fields as

medicine and marketing, law and leisure studies, economics and engineering, astron-

omy and anthropology, physics and philosophy, just to name a small selection.

Citation analysis was first employed in criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) by

Wolfgang et al. (1978), in their book Evaluating Criminology. The book was well-

received, but citation analysis lay dormant for many years after until it experienced a

popularity boost in the late 1980s, encouraged in part by the follow-up book published

by Cohn et al. (1998), Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice (the title was

chosen deliberately to honor Wolfgang and his colleagues). However, citation analysis

does have flaws and recently scholars have been attempting to develop both new ways

to use citation analysis and alternative methods for measuring scholarly influence and

prestige.

This issue of the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice contains seven original

articles that focus on the methodology of citation analysis. This issue is divided into

two distinct sections. Part 1 includes commentaries related to conventional citation

analysis. In the first article, John L. Worrall and Ellen G. Cohn focus on the use of

citation analysis in CCJ. They identify multiple sources of citation data and review the

advantages and limitations of each. They also identify a number of issues with citation

analysis as a methodology.

In the second article, Travis Pratt uses an innovative baseball metaphor to discuss

the means by which scholars can make a difference with their work. He identifies

multiple dimensions of scholarly impact in addition to citation-based indicators, much

like the many different ways that players can influence the outcome of a game of base-

ball. His study argues that the focus on citations and publications ignores the myriad

other ways in which scholars and their various activities have an impact on CCJ, on

academia in general, and on society as a whole.

Finally, Anita Lavorgna, Pamela Ugwudike, and Francesca Vianello bring an inter-

esting international perspective to the issue. They first explain the various methods

that are used to measure research quality and scholarly impact in the United Kingdom

and Italy. Afterwards, they identify a number of strengths and weaknesses of these

methods, particularly when they are applied to CCJ.

1175557CCJXXX10.1177/10439862231175557Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeCohn and Worrall

editorial2023