Skip to Main Content
Research Guides Databases A-Z Library Catalog Ask a Librarian Library Home Page SUNY New Paltz

Who's Citing Me? Searching for Cited References

This guide is designed to gather all the tools and resources available to New Paltz faculty when searching for cited references or citation counts for their publications. Useful when preparing for promotion and tenure.

WELCOME

A cited reference search will show you who has referenced your article and how many times.  

Conducting a cited reference search is one way to assess the impact of an individual's publications for purposes of promotion and tenure.  

This guide will outline the methods in which a New Paltz faculty member can perform a cited reference search and prepare their own cited reference report.

What are the Core Resources for a Cited Reference Search?

There is no single database that searches all citing data.  You will need to search a variety of sources to get the most complete results.  

The most comprehensive cited reference databases that our library has access to are:

  • Library Databases:  Certain discipline-specific databases in EBSCO, JSTOR, etc. have a cited reference search option.
     
  • Google Scholar:  Covers cited references in journal articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings, international and non-English language materials.
     

Issues to Consider

The process of cited reference search has several challenges and limitations that you should keep in mind:  

  • Cited reference searching is a labor-intensive and complex process:  For help identifying the best cited reference resources and search techniques for your discipline, request a research consultation with a reference librarian. 
     
  • There is overlap in journal coverage among the core resources so make sure to check for duplicate citations.   Use Zotero or a similar citation management software to remove duplicates.  It is possible that a publication cites two of your publications so be careful. 
  • Limits on what formats are searchable:  The core resources are searching primarily articles.  Cited references in books, book chapters, conference proceedings, dissertations, technical reports, and international publications are often excluded.  
     
  • Author Ambiguity: Be extra careful when searching by a cited author.  The cited author format varies between citation styles, publishers, and databases. One of the biggest challenges when searching for cited references in some of the citation databases is author ambiguity.  Authors may have a common last name that makes Julie Bowker indistinguishable from John Bowker. Both names will be indexed as "Bowker, J"

    It is highly recommended that you search by your last name combined with the article title.

     
  • TIPS for authors: It is highly recommended to use the same variation of your name consistently throughout the course of your academic studies and future professional activities.  If your name is a common name, consider adding a middle name to distinguish it from other authors. Consistency enhances retrieval and helps to disambiguate author names in databases. Uniqueness of a name helps establishes a “presence” for an author."

Ask a Librarian

For help in using the resources highlighted in this guide, please request a research consultation with a reference librarian to discuss your specific needs.