Variation of the nature of citation measures with journals and scientific specialties

The classification of scientific citations according to their quality and function, established in a previous paper, is strengthened by tests of its reproducibility and universality. The method is then applied to articles in various specialties of theoretical physics published in various journals, and conclusions are drawn about differences by specialty and by geographical areas. Specifically, it is shown for the sample investigated (a) that the number of papers referred to per article is much lower for Soviet journals than for European, US, or Japanese journals; (b) that this number is much lower for solid state physics than for high energy or nuclear physics; (c) that US journals have a higher percentage of conceptual citations, and a much higher percentage of organic citations than Soviet journals; (d) that the Soviet Journal of Nuclear Physics has citation patterns markedly different than the other two Soviet journals investigated and is rather similar to that of the US journals; (e) that high energy physics shows a significantly higher percentage of organic citations and a somewhat higher percentage of evolutionary citations than either nuclear physics or solid state physics. Some speculations are presented to “explain” these effects.