Abstract
The average numbers of references cited in papers published inN. Z. Journal of Experimental Agriculture (JEA) andN. Z. Journal of Agricultural Research (JAR) are compared. The papers inJAR have a greater number of references per paper than doJEA papers, probably becauseJAR papers are longer.
ForJEA papers there is a steady increase in the average number of references per paper as the number of authors per paper increases. ForJAR there is no such steady increase but there is a marked increase in the average number of references per paper for 3- and 4+-author papers.
There is a clear difference betweenJEA andJAR papers in the distribution of references between the different sections of the text. ForJEA papers 49% of references are cited in the Introduction and 52% are cited in the Results & Discussion sections. ForJAR the figures are 38% and 65% respectively.
It is suggested that the distribution of cited references in the different sections of the text may be an indicator of the “appliedness” of a paper or of a journal.
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Balog, C. The distribution of reference citations in two agricultural journals. Scientometrics 7, 101–104 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020143
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020143