Sponsored content: Springer Nature case study


Quest for fine details of evaluation: capturing the complete citation performance of a book


Books have served as important channels of scholarly communication for generations – however, book citation indices only came on the scene just over a decade ago. Evaluating how books are


cited can offer insights into research impact and quality, as well as into the performance of various publishing programmes. In 2019 Springer Nature ran a large, market-wide study among book authors. Two thirds of the surveyed authors use citation rates, along with other indicators such as sales, to measure the success of their own books. Among the variety of metrics available, citations were reported as the most important and most frequently enlisted metric of book performance. Consequently, Springer Nature


undertook a study of Scopus book citation data and this article provides a precis version of the resulting white paper, The Development and Future of Book Citations. Ludo Waltman, professor of quantitative science studies at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, said: ‘The white paper can be seen as a step towards a more comprehensive and more systematic understanding of the role of books in scholarly knowledge dissemination.’ For the study Springer Nature


undertook book citation analysis, alongside a survey of book authors, to better understand the trends in how books are used as vehicles for scholarly communications. Citation rates are valued by researchers, publishers, and libraries alike as key indicators of books’ success, quality, and/or impact. Findings reveal that peak citations vary across fields of study, and that fast-moving domains, such as life and physical sciences, reach their


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citation half-life sooner than humanities and social science subjects. Examining citation trends by publisher shows they often follow disciplinary citation patterns which are aligned to the strengths of their portfolio. With regards to formats,


books published in thematic series often earn a greater ratio of citations over their lifetime, compared to stand-alone titles. Book citation analysis is a relatively new area of study and, aided by a variety of book citation indices, new opportunities are arising to understand how books are used in the research life cycle.


Methods and data Data from Scopus was used for this citation study. It offers a slightly higher coverage of the books market than other bibliometric databases. The data was downloaded in October 2019, covering publication years from 2015 to that date, to allow enough time for books of all types and disciplines to gain citations. To capture and


2020). Applying these metrics to our dataset produced notable results in how books are cited across fields of study, publishing formats, and the publishers themselves. When we consider the volume of citations distributed across the books in this study, all disciplines have a significant share of highly cited titles. More notably, the share of low-cited titles, from 0 to 9 citations, is significantly lower in this dataset than other studies (e.g., Zhu, et al, 2020). This speaks to the importance of the book, in


“Springer Nature case study reveals a more comprehensive and more systematic understanding of the role of books in scholarly knowledge dissemination”


analyse the complete citation performance of a book as a whole, citations to the book, as well as its component chapters were combined; this follows the approach described in leading scientometric literature.


Findings


The findings of the study largely mirror trends in published literature in scientometrics and related fields – namely that, book citations take longer to reach their peak when compared to journals. In one study, a majority of books took up to eight years to see peak citations, also called a citation half-life (Zhu, et al,


particular in advanced research subjects with specialised audiences. Our study suggests low numbers of citations in such niche areas do not indicate low impact or lack of relevance, simply a smaller amount of citations can be earned in smaller fields.


Key takeaways • Book scientometrics is still a relatively new area of study, and as such, more research is needed and expected. There is a great deal more to be known about citations themselves, for instance the intention or function of a citation, whether


evidentiary, supportive or used to refute a piece of research.


• Scholarly books are key tools in research communications and progress, where citation rates are used by researchers, publishers and libraries alike as key indicators of books’ success, quality, and/or impact in and across the disciplines.


• Books published in thematic series often earn a greater ratio of citations over their lifetime, compared to stand- alone titles.


• The overall high share of cited books highlights the importance of the book format for scientific communications across disciplines.


• Time to peak citations varies across disciplines, highlighting how fast-moving domains, such as life and physical sciences, reach their citation half-life sooner than humanities and social science fields. This emphasises the relevance of the book in disciplines beyond HSS.


• Book citation analysis is a relatively new area of study and, aided by a variety of book citation indices, new opportunities exist to understand how books are used to further the research life cycle.


Visit go.sn.pub/citations-paper to download the full paper.


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