Citation analysis of academic publications to identify subscribed journals usage: A case study

The multiplicity of journals, financial constraints and the ever increasing needs of the user community necessitated the libraries to develop need based information resources. Journals are key to scholarly communication and study of the utilisation of subscribed electronic journals (e-journals) is important for libraries. A case study of usage of the subscribed e-journals in the KMC Health Sciences Library of Manipal University (MU), Manipal was conducted through citation analysis from the year 2010 to 2014. The study was performed with the objectives to determine-citations of subscribed e-journals made in academic publications of five health sciences institutions of MU, Manipal; annual growth rate of the publications and the citations; and frequently cited journals and those selected for publishing their documents. The Scopus citation database was used to retrieve all documents published from the five health science institutions using affiliation search, and from their reference list, the number of citations to the subscribed e-journals of the library were manually recorded. The study identified subscribed e-journals that were cited in published documents, cited frequently, and were selected for publishing the documents. The outcome showed that citation analysis is a practical and reliable method to provide usage information of the subscribed e-journals of the library.