Conducting a Literature Review (PGBS)

Value and impact are not interchangeable. Remember:

• A highly cited item indicates impact ... but just because a source has been cited numerous times doesn't mean it is a good one.
• Evaluate why the article is being highly cited - other authors may have referenced the source because it is an example of a poorly designed study or because it used faulty methodologies or ended with questionable conclusions.
• Pro-Research Tip: examine a sample of recent studies that reference this work and look at how the source is being described.

Older studies will likely be cited more times than more recently published studies. 

• Pro-Research Tip: For an older study, look to see whether it is still being cited.
  • If there are few or no recent citations to this study from the last few years, that may indicate that the impact of this work has waned and new research has emerged. 
  • If the study continues to be cited frequently in the most recently published literature on the topic, it may be considered a foundational study.

Compare and contrast results on an author using Scopus against those in Google Scholar.

• Scopus is more selective than Google Scholar.
• Scopus may leave out citations to materials in some book chapters, foreign publications, or open access journals. 
• Be mindful of issues related to predatory publishing when using Google Scholar (see Google Scholar: Promises & Pitfalls).

Evaluate the span of a citation beyond one discipline. 

• When a citation has been referenced in a variety of different fields of research and in a variety of different investigative contexts or areas of applied practice, this is a good indicator of a study's overall impact.
• Pro-Research Tip: evaluate the citation's impact across disciplines. 

Note the context in which a citation appears.

• A study that is consistently cited with other sources but rarely referenced as a stand-alone study may indicate that the research is not unique or distinctive in a way that stands out from the overall domain of prior research about the topic.
• While this is not necessarily bad (since many scholars may have investigated a specific research problem), it can be helpful in interpreting the relevance of a particular source in relation to your own research.
• Pro-Research Tip: observe whether a particular citation is frequently referenced alone or commonly grouped with other sources.