Impact of e-sources on the scholarly communication process in New Zealand : a citation analysis and reference study of e-sources in selected New Zealand print journals

Abstract

A citation analysis was carried out on selected New Zealand print journals of a scholarly nature to determine the extent to which New Zealand scholars are influenced by electronically published information. Over 16,000 citations, from 1997-2001, were analysed in an effort to determine the ratio of e-sources to print sources as cited in the literature. This was combined with a reference study to determine how accessible e-citations are over time, and whether they were still locatable as per cited. Trends and patterns were also charted. Results showed that the impact of e-sources on the scholarly communication process in New Zealand is so small as to be insignificant when compared to citation numbers to print sources. 60% of electronic sources were still able to be located as per citation data. Although e-sources are becoming increasingly obsolete over time, this too was not at a statistically significant level. Therefore the New Zealand scholarly community still has time to think about the issues involved and to start thinking of archival solutions.