ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, the article presents the role of documentation and citation in current scholarship. In doing so, it briefly sketches the evolution of scholarly communication networks from the standpoint of their functioning mechanisms and pays special attention to the transformations of authorship and readership. Second, the chapter analyzes the possibilities, challenges, and threats of using citation to observe scholarly communication. While several scholars have criticized the naïve use of bibliometric and scientometric indicators, performance-based evaluation mechanisms relying on these indicators continue expanding across the globe. This chapter reviews the main possibilities and pitfalls of these indicators and reflects on the performative effects of these new tools on the scholarship itself.
The paper is divided into four sections. The first section theoretically sketches the role of documentation and citation in the current world of science. The second analyzes the evolution of scholarly communication networks and the changing relevance of authorship and readership. The third part critically assesses the main possibilities and challenges of international scholarly databases and scientometric indicators. The article concludes by reflecting on how these tools are currently influencing publication and citation practices and then the world of science itself.
