Changes in Scholarly Communication over Time: A Citation Analysis Study

Abstract

This paper focuses on the changes of scholarly communications throughout time. For this purpose citation analysis of the theses that belong to sixteen different disciplines from social sciences, basic science, engineering, and arts and humanities in Hacettepe University between the years 1968 and 2007 are examined. Samples are chosen according to stratified sampling techniques. A total of 391 theses are investigated according to their bibliographical features such as year, number of pages and citations. Moreover, 29.298 citations are analyzed according to type, language, and authors of resources; while literature obsolescence is investigated according to a certain period of time. Research outputs are evaluated in groups of ten-year periods. Finally, our study compares the change that occurs in scholarly communication in time and among various disciplines.