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The Role Of Trust And Authority In The Citation Behaviour Of Researchers., Clare Thornley, Anthony Watkinson, Dave Nicholas, Rachel Volentine, Hamid R. Jamali, Eti Herman, Suzie Allard, Kenneth Levine, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper reports on an interview-based citation behaviour study, part of a wider study of trust in information resources, investigating why researchers chose to cite particular references in one of their publications. Their motivations are explored, with an emphasis on whether they regarded the reference as an authoritative and trustworthy source, and, if so, to what extent and why. Method. Semi-structured critical incident interviews were carried out with eighty-seven researchers from the UK and the USA. Analysis. The answers were analysed using qualitative techniques and then grouped under descriptive headings of the types of reasons for citation provided. These were …