Citation classics published in Knowledge Management journals. Part II: studying research trends and discovering the Google Scholar Effect

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to discover growing, stable and declining knowledge management (KM) research trends. Design/methodology/approach – Citations to 100 KM citation classics as identified by Serenko and Dumay (2015) were collected and analyzed for growing, stable and declining research trends. Findings – This research has two findings that were not theoretically expected. First, a majority of KM citation classics exhibit a bimodal citation distribution peak. Second, there are a growing number of citations for all research topics. These unexpected findings warranted further theoretical elaboration and empirical investigation. The analysis of erroneous citations and a five-year citation trend (2009 – 2013) reveals that the continuously growing volume of citations may result from what the authors call the Google Scholar Effect. Research limitations/implications – The results from this study open up two significant research opportunities. First, more research is needed to understand the imp...

[1]  Henry G. Small,et al.  Emerging research fronts in science and technology: patterns of new knowledge development , 2009, Scientometrics.

[2]  Mike Thelwall,et al.  The most highly cited Library and Information Science articles: Interdisciplinarity, first authors and citation patterns , 2007, Scientometrics.

[3]  Larsson Ks.  The dissemination of false data through inadequate citation. , 1995 .

[4]  Donald Hislop,et al.  Journal of Knowledge Management Knowledge management as an ephemeral management fashion ? , 2016 .

[5]  N. Bontis,et al.  Meta-review of knowledge management and intellectual capital literature: citation impact and research productivity rankings , 2004 .

[6]  Nick Bontis,et al.  Investigating the current state and impact of the intellectual capital academic discipline , 2013 .

[7]  V. Cano,et al.  Citation life cycles of ten citation classics , 1991, Scientometrics.

[8]  John Dumay,et al.  On the shoulders of giants: undertaking a structured literature review in accounting , 2016 .

[9]  R. Merton.  The Matthew Effect in Science , 1968, Science.

[10]  Peter Heisig,et al.  Future Research in Knowledge Management: Results from the Global Knowledge Research Network Study , 2015 .

[11]  Dianne Hall,et al.  Citation Analysis and Trends in Knowledge Management , 2010, AMCIS.

[12]  Alexander Serenko,et al.  Citation classics published in knowledge management journals. Part I: articles and their characteristics , 2015, J. Knowl. Manag..

[13]  Maria R. Lee,et al.  Revealing research themes and trends in knowledge management: From 1995 to 2010 , 2012, Knowl. Based Syst..

[14]  K. Metaxiotis,et al.  The knowledge‐based development agenda:a perspective for 2010‐2020 , 2011 .

[15]  Torgeir Dingsøyr,et al.  Knowledge management in software engineering: A systematic review of studied concepts, findings and research methods used , 2008, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[16]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  A bibliometric study on ageing and reception processes of scientific literature , 1995, J. Inf. Sci..

[17]  Norio Ohba,et al.  Sleeping beauties in ophthalmology , 2012, Scientometrics.

[18]  Antonio Pulgarín,et al.  What is wrong with obsolescence? , 2000, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[19]  Stephen S. Murray,et al.  The bibliometric properties of article readership information , 2005, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[20]  Leo Egghe,et al.  The distribution of the uncitedness factor and its functional relation with the impact factor , 2010, Scientometrics.

[21]  F. W. Lancaster,et al.  Synchronous versus diachronous methods in the measurement of obsolescence by citation studies , 1987, J. Inf. Sci..

[22]  Vincent Larivière,et al.  The lengthening of papers’ life expectancy: a diachronous analysis , 2013, Scientometrics.

[23]  Stephen W. Hawking,et al.  On The Shoulders Of Giants , 2016 .

[24]  Qiuyan Zhong,et al.  The Developing Trend Research of Knowledge Management Overseas Based on Word Frequency Analysis , 2008, 2008 4th International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing.

[25]  Fred Y. Ye,et al.  A probe into the citation patterns of high-quality and high-impact publications , 2014 .

[26]  Aurel Avramescu,et al.  Actuality and Obsolescence of Scientific Literature , 2007, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[27]  K. Schmaling,et al.  Enhancing the Culture of Research Ethics on University Campuses , 2007 .

[28]  Carla Curado,et al.  Mapping knowledge management authoring patterns and practices , 2011 .

[29]  Dimitris Askounis,et al.  Knowledge-based development research: a comprehensive literature review 2000–2010 , 2013 .

[30]  Wolfgang Glänzel,et al.  Towards a model for diachronous and synchronous citation analyses , 2004, Scientometrics.

[31]  Maurice B. Line,et al.  PROGRESS IN DOCUMENTATION: ‘obsolescence’ and changes in the use of literature with time , 1974 .

[32]  I. K. Ravichandra Rao,et al.  Citation Age Data and the Obsolescence Function: Fits and Explanations , 1992, Inf. Process. Manag..

[33]  Cassidy R. Sugimoto,et al.  Topics in dynamic research communities: An exploratory study for the field of information retrieval , 2012, J. Informetrics.

[34]  C. Holsapple,et al.  In search of a missing link , 2008 .

[35]  Naoki Shibata,et al.  Comparative study on methods of detecting research fronts using different types of citation , 2009, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[36]  Gerald F. Davis,et al.  Editorial Essay: Why Do We Still Have Journals? , 2014 .

[37]  Henk Eijkman,et al.  The learning organization as concept and journal in the neo‐millennial era: A plea for critical engagement , 2011 .

[38]  Anne-Wil Harzing,et al.  Are our referencing errors undermining our scholarship and credibility? The case of expatriate failure rates , 2002 .

[39]  Nick Bontis,et al.  Global ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic journals , 2009, J. Knowl. Manag..

[40]  Ugo Finardi,et al.  On the time evolution of received citations, in different scientific fields: An empirical study , 2014, J. Informetrics.

[41]  John Dumay,et al.  Reflections on interdisciplinary accounting research: the state of the art of intellectual capital , 2014 .

[42]  C. Park,et al.  Investigating the Research Trends of Learning Organization Studies between 1979 and 2011: An Approach of the Citation Network Research , 2014 .

[43]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  Citing practices in ecology: can we believe our own words? , 2007 .

[44]  Jay Chatzkel.  Moving through the crossroads , 2004 .

[45]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  The Ombudsman: Verification of Citations: Fawlty Towers of Knowledge? , 2008, Interfaces.

[46]  Henry G. Small,et al.  Paradigms, citations, and maps of science: A personal history , 2003, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[48]  Anne-Wil Harzing,et al.  A longitudinal study of Google Scholar coverage between 2012 and 2013 , 2013, Scientometrics.

[49]  S. Rosen.  The Economics of Superstars , 1981 .

[50]  K. Larsson.  The dissemination of false data through inadequate citation , 1995, Journal of internal medicine.

[51]  Elizabeth Smith Aversa,et al.  Citation patterns of highly cited papers and their relationship to literature aging: A study of the working literature , 1985, Scientometrics.

[52]  H. Estelami,et al.  The State of Scholarly Journal Publishing: 1981-2000 , 2006 .

[53]  J. Guthrie,et al.  Reflections and projections: A decade of Intellectual Capital Accounting Research , 2012 .

[54]  Junping Qiu,et al.  An overview of knowledge management research viewed through the web of science (1993-2012) , 2014, Aslib J. Inf. Manag..

[55]  Vedran Katavić,et al.  Citation and quotation accuracy in three anatomy journals , 2004, Clinical anatomy.

[56]  Mike Thelwall,et al.  Patterns of annual citation of highly cited articles and the prediction of their citation ranking: A comparison across subjects , 2008, Scientometrics.

[57]  David M. Walker,et al.  Citation pattern and lifespan: a comparison of discipline, institution, and individual , 2011, Scientometrics.

[58]  K. Grant,et al.  Knowledge Management, An Enduring but Confusing Fashion , 2011 .

[59]  Martin Weller,et al.  The digital scholar : how technology is transforming scholarly practice , 2011 .

[60]  Cliff Chiung-Yu Lin,et al.  On the Shoulders of Giants: The Growing Impact of Older Articles , 2014, ArXiv.

[61]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  One in four citations in marine biology papers is inappropriate , 2010 .

[62]  Vishanth Weerakkody,et al.  Research Trends in Knowledge Management: Analyzing the Past and Predicting the Future , 2011, Inf. Syst. Manag..

[63]  John Dumay,et al.  Academic performance, publishing and peer review: peering into the twilight zone , 2015 .

[64]  John Dumay,et al.  15 years of the Journal of Intellectual Capital and counting : a manifesto for transformational IC research , 2014 .

[65]  Alexander Serenko,et al.  Meta-analysis of scientometric research of knowledge management: discovering the identity of the discipline , 2013, J. Knowl. Manag..

[66]  Endre Száva-Kováts,et al.  Unfounded attribution of the "half-life" index-number of literature obsolescence to Burton and Kebler: A literature science study , 2002, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[67]  G. Calabretta,et al.  Uncovering the Intellectual Structure of Research in Business Ethics: A Journey Through the History, the Classics, and the Pillars of Journal of Business Ethics , 2011 .

[68]  B. C. Brookes.  Obsolescence of special library periodicals: Sampling errors and utility contours , 1970 .

[69]  Xiang Liu,et al.  Collective dynamics in knowledge networks: Emerging trends analysis , 2013, J. Informetrics.

[70]  Yuh-Shan Ho,et al.  Classic articles on social work field in Social Science Citation Index: a bibliometric analysis , 2013, Scientometrics.

[71]  Thijs Pollman,et al.  Forgetting and the Ageing of Scientific Publications , 2004, Scientometrics.

[72]  R. Merton.  The Matthew Effect in Science, II: Cumulative Advantage and the Symbolism of Intellectual Property , 1988, Isis.

[73]  Hamid Bouabid,et al.  Revisiting citation aging: a model for citation distribution and life-cycle prediction , 2011, Scientometrics.

[74]  François-Xavier de Vaujany,et al.  An historically grounded critical analysis of research articles in IS , 2011, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[75]  Anne-Wil Harzing,et al.  Google Scholar as a new source for citation analysis , 2008 .

[76]  Trevor McIntyre,et al.  Referencing practices in physical geography , 2013 .

[77]  D J PRICE,et al.  NETWORKS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. , 1965, Science.

[78]  R. E. Burton,et al.  The “half‐life” of some scientific and technical literatures , 1960 .

[79]  Barrie Gunter,et al.  The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future , 2008, Aslib Proc..

[80]  Elaine Aspinwall,et al.  Characterizing knowledge management in the small business environment , 2004, J. Knowl. Manag..

[81]  Nick Bontis,et al.  Global ranking of knowledge management and intellectual capital academic journals: 2013 update , 2013, J. Knowl. Manag..

[82]  Yoshiteru Nakamori,et al.  An approach to aid understanding emerging research fields—the case of knowledge management , 2009 .

[83]  Nick Bontis,et al.  The Intellectual Core and Impact of the Knowledge Management Academic Discipline , 2013, J. Knowl. Manag..

[84]  Henry G. Small,et al.  A Passage Through Science: Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries , 1999, Libr. Trends.