Secondary and Tertiary Citing: A Study of Referencing Behavior in the Literature of Citation Analysis Deriving from the Ortega Hypothesis of Cole and Cole

Abstract

This study examines a complex network of documents and citations relating to the literature of the Ortega Hypothesis (as defined by Jonathan R. Cole and Stephen Cole), demonstrating the tenacity of errors in details of and meaning attributed to individual citations. These errors provide evidence that secondary and tertiary citing occurs in the literature that assesses individual influence through the use of citations. Secondary and tertiary citing is defined as the inclusion of a citation in a reference list without examining the document being cited. The authors suggest that, in the absence of error, it is difficult to determine the amount of secondary and tertiary citing considered normative. Therefore, to increase understanding of the relationship between citations and patterns of influence, it is recommended that large-scale studies examine additional instances of citation error.

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