Citation behavior and place of publication in the authors from the scientific periphery: A matter of quality?

摘要

This research examines the communication pattern of a selected group of Croatian scientists in the field of biomedicine related to citing articles published in domestic sources. It studies a possible difference in attitude of Croatian scientists toward domestic and international journals. The research included as analysis of references and a survey of authors. Using 1988 and 1989 Science Citation Index on compact disc, as well as a sample of domestic journals and domestic journals covered by Science Citation Index, we identified papers by Croatian authors and confirmed that the same authors apply different criteria in citing relevant literature, depending on the type (domestic or foreign) of the journal in which they are to publish their paper. Domestic literature is cited four times less often in foreign than in domestic journals, so there is a complete absence of national bias in citing earlier literature by the same authors. The relationship between citation behavior and place of publication could be related to the general approach of Croatian biomedical authors to domestic and international journals, and could be indicative of a poor quality of scientific papers published in domestic journals.