Study of meanings, definishings and functions of citayions analysis in the field of epistemology

Subject Areas : Journal of Knowledge Studies

zahra Chavoshi Najafabadi ¹ , ahmad shabani ²

1 - MSC in Library and Iinformation Science
2 - Faculty Member of Esfehan University

Received: 2008-07-02 Accepted : 2008-12-17 Published : 2009-05-22

Keywords: Scientometrics, Citation Analysis, Bibliometrics,

Abstract :

Nowadays, epistemology presents a new field in research areas. In this science, statistical and measurement methods are used to determine the criterions of the growth and development of science and levels of their expansion and its effect on research societies. This science appeared in Russia and developed in Eastern European countries especially in Hungary. This method is used for quantitative measurement of science in the national and international levels of governmental and private establishments. Bibliometrics is one of the important methods of epistemology and citation study or analysis is one of the most popular techniques of bibliometrics in which formulas ruling the relation between text and document are studied. Human being relies to credit his work. The path of scientific discovery and thoughts are defined by citations that are rate of referring to former sources like fixed traces. In this article, meanings, definitions and functions of citation analysis from scientists' viewpoint are studied and the relation between aspects is expressed.