Open AccessThe social act of citing: Towards new horizons in citation theory
Author(s) -
Nicolaisen Jeppe
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.1450400102
Subject(s) - documentation , epistemology , field (mathematics) , citation , consciousness , sociology , computer science , management science , social science , mathematics , philosophy , library science , engineering , pure mathematics , programming language
The paper draws together central research on scientific problem solving and scientific documentation from a number of fields and demonstrates its latent potential for a general theory of citing. Specifically, two philosophical works on scientific problem solving facilitate the clarification of how research traditions work as solution constrainers. The interdisciplinary field of diffusion research is shown to deal with issues related to the issue concerning scientists' choice of problems, theories, and methods. A number of empirical composition studies dealing with the act of citing are examined and shown to contradict the mentalist assumption that scientific documentation is an act of private consciousness. The paper concludes with a preliminary outline of a general theory of citing and suggestions for further developments.