Citation content analysis (<scp>CCA</scp>): A framework for syntactic and semantic analysis of citation content

TLDR

Content analysis has been applied in social sciences and library and information science, and this study reviews its history and suggests future directions. The study proposes the CCA framework to syntactically and semantically analyze citation content for sociocultural research behavior. The framework is grounded in a critical discussion of citation analysis limits, defining CCA’s purpose and outlining procedures with a two‑dimensional, two‑module codebook to identify reference scope. The framework is positioned as the next generation of citation analysis.

Abstract

This study proposes a new framework for citation content analysis ( CCA ), for syntactic and semantic analysis of citation content that can be used to better analyze the rich sociocultural context of research behavior. This framework could be considered the next generation of citation analysis. The authors briefly review the history and features of content analysis in traditional social sciences and its previous application in library and information science (LIS). Based on critical discussion of the theoretical necessity of a new method as well as the limits of citation analysis, the nature and purposes of CCA are discussed, and potential procedures to conduct CCA , including principles to identify the reference scope, a two‐dimensional (citing and cited) and two‐module (syntactic and semantic) codebook, are provided and described. Future work and implications are also suggested.