Library Help: Office For Open Research

What is Citation Count?

Citation count refers to the total number of times a research output has been cited by other scholarly works. It is one of the most commonly used metrics for assessing academic visibility and influence.

A high citation count may indicate that a piece of research has been influential or widely read within the academic community—but it does not measure research quality on its own and must be interpreted with care.

Why are citation counts useful?

Citation counts can help researchers:

• Demonstrate academic impact
  Frequent citations may suggest that others are building upon your work or referencing it in their own research.

• Identify key contributions
  They can highlight which of your publications have gained the most attention—useful for CVs, REF case studies, or narrative impact statements.

• Benchmark within a discipline
  Comparing citation counts across authors or institutions can provide insight into field-specific influence, though always with proper context.
   

Why should you be cautious with citation counts?

Citation counts are helpful but have important limitations:

• Not a complete measure of impact
  They do not reflect non-academic contributions (e.g., policy influence, media engagement, teaching uptake, or societal impact).

• Disciplinary variation
  Citation practices differ widely across fields. A paper in medicine may receive hundreds of citations, while one in the humanities may receive far fewer—even if equally valuable.

• Influence of career stage
  Early-career researchers typically have lower citation counts simply due to time. Citation accumulation is often slow.

• Potential for misuse or manipulation
  Practices like excessive self-citation or citation cartels can distort the true significance of a paper’s citation record.

• Lack of nuance
  Citation counts don’t indicate why a paper is cited—whether to support, challenge, or simply mention a finding.

• Platform discrepancies
  Citation counts vary depending on the database (e.g. Scopus vs. Web of Science vs. Google Scholar), due to differences in coverage and indexing.

N.B Citation data should always be interpreted in context and used alongside qualitative evidence and other metrics.
 

Platforms that provide citation counts

Several databases and platforms provide citation counts, but it is important to understand that the citation numbers may differ between them due to differences in coverage, indexing, and citation practices. The following platforms are ideal for quickly gathering data related to the citations received by your work(s):

1. Scopus

   • Offers detailed author profiles and citation data for peer-reviewed outputs

   • Includes visual tools like citation trends and collaboration maps

   • Allows users to filter self-citations

2. Web of Science (WoS)

   • Tracks citation data across high-quality, curated journals

   • Includes the Author Impact Beamplot and Citation Reports for more detailed analysis

   • Citations are based on content from the Web of Science Core Collection

3. Scite

• Uses AI to classify citations as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning

• Highlights which parts of your work were cited (e.g. methods, results, conclusions)

• Allows users to create a personal dashboard to track their citation profile over time.
   

Note: Citation counts may vary across these platforms due to differences in coverage and how data is collected.
 

Why citation counts vary between platforms

The citation count for a specific publication may differ between platforms for several reasons:

Google Scholar citation counts 

You may notice that citation counts for your publications vary depending on the platform—particularly between Google Scholar and more curated databases like Scopus or Web of Science.

Why Google Scholar tends to show higher citation counts:

• Broader coverage: Google Scholar indexes a wide range of sources, including books, theses, conference papers, preprints, and non-peer-reviewed content.

• Less quality control: Unlike curated databases, it may include duplicate records, misattributed citations, and citations from questionable or predatory journals.

• Inclusion of grey literature: Google Scholar also counts citations from course syllabi, slide decks, or institutional repositories, which inflates totals.

Why Scopus or Web of Science are often preferred for evaluation:

• Curated content: These platforms include only peer-reviewed and reputable sources, ensuring more consistent and reliable data.

• Transparent indexing policies: Their inclusion criteria are well-defined and maintained by expert editorial teams.

• Field-normalised metrics: Scopus (via SciVal) and Web of Science (via InCites) offer responsible, normalised metrics like FWCI or CNCI—essential for fair cross-discipline comparisons.

N.B. For formal purposes such as grant applications, promotion, or institutional benchmarking, we recommend using data from Scopus or Web of Science, where citation metrics are more robust and context-aware.

How to find citation metrics for a specific paper in Scopus

To find the citation metrics for a specific paper in Scopus, follow these steps:

1. Search for the Paper:

   • Access Scopus via the link available through Library search 
   • In the search bar, enter the title of the paper, DOI, or other identifying information (such as the author's name or keywords).

2. Select the Correct Paper:

   • From the search results, click on the title of the paper to view the detailed record.

3. View Citation Information:

   • On the paper’s record page, you will see the Cited by count on the top right of the page. This shows the number of times the paper has been cited by other articles indexed in Scopus.

4. Citation Overview:

   • You can also view additional citation metrics such as citation trends over time, and details of other papers that have cited the article.

5. Export Data:

   • If needed, Scopus allows you to export citation data in various formats for further analysis or inclusion in reports.
      

Need help understanding your citation metrics?

The Research Indicators team can help you:

• Understand your citation data across different platforms

• Interpret citation metrics responsibly

• Use citation counts as part of a broader, contextual impact narrative
   

• Contact the Office for Open Research