Library Philosophy and Practice 2011
ISSN 1522-0222
Citation Analysis of Dissertations
of Law submitted to University of Delhi, Delhi
Dr.Joginder Singh Burman
Asstt.Professor.
Deptt.of Lib. & Inf. Sc.
K.U. Kurukshetra-136119
Haryana (INDIA)
&
Sheela, M.Phil.Student
DLISc.KUK.
Abstract
A total 3052 citations were analyzed appended from 33 dissertations
submitted by LLM students of University of Delhi, Delhi in 2006.It was found that
25.52% citations were from the journal articles and EPW with 7.19% citations
was the most used journal.69.78% citations were from the subject of Law and
79.84% contributions were produced under single author-ship.41% periodicals
were cited from USA.Half-life of periodical literature was 11 years.
0. Introduction
In ancient period,
there was lack of mode of communication. The source of extensive of ideas was
assembly. When judges write opinions, they perpetually cite cases and other
authorities. Lawyers, legal scholars and judges all pepper their writings with
links to earlier sources.Citations within court decision are nothing but
arguments themselves and shows the decision of case. Analysis of the citations
employed by Legal writers offers similar promise as a tool for exploration of
legal thought. (Widdison, 2002). Yet, Bibliometrics,
Citation Indexing, Citation Analysis all appear to have been practiced in the
legal field long before they were introduced into scientific literature.
Therefore, when two Judges who are deciding different cases, cite some of the
same authorities, this does mean that those cases are, at least somehow,
relevant to each other (Smith,
2007).
Citation Analysis is the applied research method by
librarians, teachers and information scientist to indicate the relationship
that exist between cited and citing document. Martyn (1975) says, “a Citation implies the relationship between a
part or whole of the cited document or the whole of the citing documents”.Thus, Citation
analysis is useful for understanding subject relationships, authors
effectiveness, publication trends and so on. It looks at citations to and from
documents. If, there is a citation between two documents, there is some kind of
relationship between these texts. This relationship can be further explored and
used to learn more about the characteristics of the connected documents.
(Feather and Sturges,2003).The present study focused at deriving qualitative
and quantitative analysis based on the citations collected from the end of the
dissertations submitted in 2006 by the students of LLM,University of Delhi,
Delhi.
2.
Objectives: The
study intends to identify the following objectives:-
1.
Form-wise distribution of documents
cited by LLM Students.
2.
Ranking List of the Journals.
3.
Author-ship Pattern in citations.
4.
Country-wise distribution of the
journals.
5.
Subject-wise distribution of the
journals.
6.
Year-wise distribution of Periodical
literature.
3. Methodology:
A total 3052 citations have been collected from Thirty Three dissertations
available in the Campus Law Centre Library, University of Delhi, Delhi. The citations appended to each dissertation under the
study were collected using a predefined 5” x 3” slips.
4.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data
collected from the source dissertations have been classified, tabulated and
analyzed in accordance with the set objectives of the study. Only data
belonging to the periodicals have been analyzed in depth.
Table
–1. Form-wise
distribution of the documents
|
Sr.No. |
Forms of Documents |
No.
of Citations |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
No.
of Citations |
%age |
||||
|
1 |
Journals |
779 |
25.52 |
779 |
25.52 |
|
2 |
Text Books |
678 |
22.21 |
1457 |
47.73 |
|
3 |
Constitutions/Statutes/Acts |
499 |
16.34 |
1956 |
64.08 |
|
4 |
Reports |
283 |
9.27 |
2239 |
73.36 |
|
5 |
Web-sites |
257 |
8.42 |
2496 |
81.78 |
|
6 |
Reviews |
245 |
8.02 |
2741 |
89.81 |
|
7 |
Conventions/Conferences |
186 |
6.09 |
2927 |
95.90 |
|
8 |
Reference Books |
67 |
2.19 |
2994 |
98.1 |
|
9 |
Newspapers |
27 |
0.88 |
3021 |
98.98 |
|
10 |
Magazines |
16 |
0.52 |
3027 |
99.50 |
|
11 |
Not identified |
15 |
0.49 |
3052 |
100 |
|
|
Total |
3052 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
Table-1 shows that out of 3052
total citations , 779 (25.52%) documents were in the form of Journal articles
followed by Books i.e. 678 (22.21%) with a slightly difference. It is clearly
revealed that around 50% information needs of LLM students are met by periodicals and books only.
Constitutions /Statutes / Acts comes at the third with 499 (16.34%) citations
followed by Reports, Web-sites, Reviews and Conventions / Conferences documents
accounts to 9.27%, 8.42%, 8.02% and 6.09% respectively.15 publictions could not
be identified as they were not expressed properly. The rest documents has been
given in the Fig. 1.
Fig.-1
Table-2. Rank List of Journals
|
Sr. No. |
Journal
Title |
Ranks |
No.
of Citations |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
No.
of Citations |
%age |
|||||
|
1 |
Economic Political
Weekly |
1 |
56 |
7.19 |
56 |
7.19 |
|
2 |
American Journal of
International Law |
2 |
44 |
5.65 |
100 |
12.84 |
|
3 |
CBI Bulletin |
3 |
35 |
4.24 |
133 |
17.07 |
|
4 |
Delhi Law review |
4 |
29 |
3.72 |
162 |
20.80 |
|
5 |
Indian Journal of
International Law |
5 |
22 |
2.82 |
184 |
23.62 |
|
6 |
Journal of Indian
Law Institute |
5 |
22 |
2.82 |
206 |
26.44 |
|
7 |
Indian Bar Review |
6 |
21 |
2.70 |
227 |
26.57 |
|
8 |
Journal of
International Economic Law |
7 |
17 |
2.18 |
244 |
31.32 |
|
9 |
Journal of World
Trade |
7 |
17 |
2.18 |
261 |
33.50 |
|
10 |
International
Comparative Law Quarterly |
7 |
17 |
2.18 |
278 |
35.69 |
|
11 |
Supreme Court Cases |
7 |
17 |
2.18 |
295 |
37.87 |
|
12 |
Journal of
Intellectual Property Right |
7 |
17 |
2.18 |
312 |
40.05 |
|
13 |
National Capital Law
Journal |
8 |
16 |
2.05 |
328 |
42.11 |
|
14 |
All India Report |
8 |
16 |
2.05 |
344 |
44.16 |
|
15 |
European Journal of International
Law |
8 |
16 |
2.05 |
360 |
46.21 |
|
16 |
Criminal Law Journal |
9 |
15 |
1.93 |
375 |
48.14 |
|
17 |
Harvard
International Law Journal |
9 |
15 |
1.93 |
390 |
50.06 |
|
18 |
Indian Journal of
Public Administration |
9 |
15 |
1.93 |
405 |
51.99 |
|
19 |
Centre India Law
Quarterly |
9 |
15 |
1.93 |
420 |
53.92 |
|
20 |
Indian Socio-Legal
Journal |
10 |
9 |
1.16 |
429 |
55.07 |
|
21 |
International
Migration Review |
10 |
9 |
1.16 |
438 |
56.23 |
|
22 |
Journal of
Intellectual Property Rights |
10 |
9 |
1.16 |
447 |
57.38 |
|
23 |
Supreme Court Yearly
Digest |
10 |
9 |
1.16 |
456 |
58.54 |
|
24 |
American Political
Science Review |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
464 |
59.56 |
|
25 |
Cochin University
Law Review |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
472 |
60.59 |
|
26 |
Journal of World Intellectual
Property |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
480 |
61.62 |
|
27 |
Fordham
International Law Journal |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
488 |
62.64 |
|
28 |
Denver Journal of
International Law and Policy |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
496 |
63.67 |
|
29 |
Labor Law Reporter |
11 |
8 |
1.03 |
504 |
64.70 |
|
30 |
Virginia Journal of
International Law |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
511 |
65.60 |
|
31 |
Company Law Journal |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
518 |
66.50 |
|
32 |
Chicago Journal of
International Law |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
525 |
67.39 |
|
33 |
Cardozo Journal of International
and Comparative Law |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
532 |
68.29 |
|
34 |
Indian Police
Journal |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
539 |
69.19 |
|
35 |
Annual Survey of
Indian Law |
12 |
7 |
0.90 |
546 |
70.09 |
|
36 |
Journal of
International Arbitration |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
552 |
70.86 |
|
37 |
Kashmir University
Law Review |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
558 |
71.63 |
|
38 |
Murdoch University
Electronic Journal Law |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
564 |
72.40 |
|
39 |
Maharishi Dayanand
University of Law Journal |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
570 |
73.17 |
|
40 |
European
Intellectual Property Law Review |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
576 |
73.94 |
|
41 |
Supreme Court
Journal |
13 |
6 |
0.77 |
582 |
74.71 |
|
42 |
Labour and
Industrial Cases |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
587 |
75.35 |
|
43 |
World Intellectual
Property Journal |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
592 |
75.99 |
|
44 |
Allahabad Weekly
Report Bulletin |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
597 |
76.64 |
|
45 |
Andhra Law Times |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
602 |
77.28 |
|
46 |
All India High Court
Cases |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
607 |
77.92 |
|
47 |
Amity Law Review |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
612 |
78.56 |
|
48 |
Academic Law Review |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
617 |
79.20 |
|
49 |
Bangalore Law
Journal |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
622 |
79.85 |
|
50 |
Africa Law Journal |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
627 |
80.49 |
|
51 |
Canadian Bar Review |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
632 |
81.13 |
|
52 |
Cornell International Law Journal |
14 |
5 |
0.64 |
637 |
81.77 |
|
|
Remaining 87 titles
cited less than 5 times i.e.1=42, 2 =64, 3=36, 4=0 |
|
142 |
18.22 |
779 |
100% |
A
total of 52 Journals have been identified in Tabel-2 in the field of Law. For each Journal title listed in the
ranked list rank number, numbers of citations, cumulating percentage, etc. are
given. These Journals are ranked in the ascending order based on the number of
citations. It shows that the literature used by the researchers in the field of
Law has been scattered in 52 core Journals with 637 (81.77%) citations and
remaining 87 Journals account for 142 (18.22%) citations have been cited less
than 5 times. It was observed that Economic Political Weekly (EPW) ranked at
the top having 56(7.19%) citations followed by American Journal of
International Law with 44 (5.65%) citations of the total. More than half of the
total citations i.e. 390(50.06%) covers first 17 core Journals. This rank list
will be useful to the librarian as well as the researcher in ascertaining the
most important journals in the field of Law.
Table 3. Author-ship Pattern
|
Sr.
No. |
No.
of Authors |
No.
of Citations |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
No.
of Citations |
%age |
||||
|
1 |
Single Author |
622 |
79.84 |
622 |
79.84 |
|
2 |
Two Authors |
127 |
16.30 |
749 |
96.14 |
|
3 |
Three Authors |
17 |
2.18 |
766 |
98.33 |
|
4 |
Four Authors |
8 |
1.02 |
774 |
99.35 |
|
5 |
More than Four
Authors |
5 |
0.64 |
779 |
100% |
|
|
Total |
779 |
100% |
779 |
100% |
Fig.
2
Table
3 indicates the authorship pattern reflected in periodical
articles. It was observed that single author articles contributed 622 (79.84%)
citations in the field of Law
followed by two and three authors contributions with 127 (16.30%) and 17
(2.18%) respectively. The remaining 05(0.64%) articles were contributed by more
than four authors.
Table 4. Country-wise
distribution of periodicals
|
Sr.
No. |
Country-wise distribution |
No.
of Periodicals |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
No.
of Periodicals |
%age |
||||
|
1. |
USA |
57 |
41.00 |
57 |
41.00 |
|
2. |
India |
52 |
37.41 |
109 |
78.41 |
|
3. |
UK |
17 |
12.23 |
126 |
90.65 |
|
4 |
Australia |
03 |
2.15 |
129 |
92.80 |
|
5 |
New-York |
03 |
2.15 |
132 |
94.95 |
|
6 |
Russia |
02 |
1.43 |
134 |
96.40 |
|
7 |
Africa |
02 |
1.43 |
136 |
97.85 |
|
8 |
Canada |
01 |
0.71 |
137 |
98.56 |
|
9 |
France |
01 |
0.71 |
138 |
99.27 |
|
10 |
East Timor |
01 |
0.71 |
139 |
100% |
|
|
Total |
139 |
100% |
139 |
100% |
Fig.
3
Table-4
tells that the research scholars of law have cited the periodical from 10
countries in their research. Majority of the cited periodicals belongs to the
three countries and out of these USA is at the top with 57(41%) periodicals
followed by India with 52 (37.41%) and UK with 17(12.23%) periodical. Less than
10% periodicals were from other seven countries. This revealed that LLM
students of University of Delhi, Delhi do not use only Indian periodicals but
foreign periodicals also to a larger extent.
Table 5. Subject-wise
distribution of Periodicals
|
Sr. No. |
Subject |
No. of Periodicals |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
Citations |
%age |
||||
|
1 |
Law |
97 |
69.8 |
97 |
69.8 |
|
2 |
Science and Technology |
15 |
10.8 |
112 |
80.6 |
|
3 |
Social Science |
13 |
9.35 |
125 |
89.95 |
|
4 |
Economic |
11 |
8.00 |
136 |
97.85 |
|
5 |
Education |
3 |
2.15 |
139 |
100% |
|
|
Total |
139 |
100 |
779 |
100% |
Fig.
4
Table
5 shows that 97 (69.78%) periodical cited by LLM students are
from their own field i.e. Law followed by Science and Technology with
15(10.79%). They also cited periodicals from the field of Social Science,
Economics and Education with 13 (9.35%), 11 (7.9%) and 3(2.15%) each
respectively.
Table 6. Year-wise distribution
of the periodical literature
|
Sr.No. |
Period
Intervals |
No.
of Citations |
%age |
Cumulative |
|
|
No.
of Citations |
%age |
||||
|
1 |
0-5 |
245 |
31.45 |
245 |
31.45 |
|
2 |
06-10 |
133 |
17.07 |
378 |
48.52 |
|
3 |
11-20 |
113 |
14.50 |
491 |
63.02 |
|
4 |
21-30 |
99 |
12.70 |
590 |
75.73 |
|
5 |
31-40 |
85 |
10.91 |
675 |
86.64 |
|
6 |
41-50 |
56 |
7.18 |
731 |
93.83 |
|
7 |
51-60 |
21 |
2.69 |
752 |
96.53 |
|
8 |
61
and earlier |
27 |
3.46 |
779 |
100 |
Year-wise
distribution of cited periodical literature reveals that about 31.45% papers were
cited within 5 years of their publication and more than 75.73% of the papers
were cited within 20 years. However, the oldest cited paper was published more
than 80 years back. For calculating the half-life of law literature depicted by
the current study, a graph was plotted by taking period on x-axis and the
cumulative number of citations of the periodical literature on y-axis. The
total number of citations measured at y-axis was 779. Half of the total
citations i.e. 390(considering each citation as an indivisible unit) meet at
point ‘A’ parallel on y-axis. A line drawn from point
‘A’ parallel to x-axis cuts the curved graph at point
‘B’ parallel to y-axis meets the x-axis at point ‘C’.
Again another line was drawn from point ‘B’.Distance from point
‘A’ to ‘B’ or ‘O’ to ‘C’ is the
half life of periodical literature in field of law which was 11 years. Fig.
5 shows obsolescence of periodical literature.
5. CONCLUSION
AND FINDINGS
Citation
analysis is useful for understanding subject relationships, author effectiveness,
publication trends and so on. It is essential for a
librarian to identify the information needs and use pattern of the users. The
following are some important findings of the study:-
- Journals articles were the major
source of information used by LLM students as 1/3 of the total citations
were from journal articles i.e. 779 (25.52%) followed by books 678
(22.21%) with a slightly difference.
- Indian Journal titled Economic
Political Weekly (EPW) with 56(7.19%) citations was the most used journal.
- 97(69.78%) periodicals were from
their own subject i.e. Law.
- 622 (79.84%) citations were
produced under single authorship.
- A large number of total cited
periodical were from U.S.A with 57(41%) citations.
- The half-life of periodical
literature in the field of Law was 11 years.
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