Skip to Main Content

Nursing Research

What is Citation Searching?

Once a researcher locates articles on their topic, they can take their search further by looking at the references or works cited in those articles. This is called citation searching and is a way of finding relevant research in a field or subject by looking at what an article has referenced and who has since used that article as a reference. See the types of citation searching that can be done, their purposes, and the tools that can be used to do them.

Forward Citation Searching

This type of citation searching looks forward in time. It starts with a historical article, and searches for articles that were written AFTER the historical article -- ones that used the historical article for research. 

How many times has a historical article been cited since it was published?  A historical article may continue to be cited for various reasons.  Often it is because it was an important or influential article, a seminal article, one that established a theory or reported on a significant research discovery.  While those are typical reasons that an article endures, another less common but possible reason may be that the article is controversial and it is for that reason it is often cited.

Forward reference searching helps a researcher do the following:

  • Expand their knowledge on a topic by locating follow-up studies. 
  • Identify new findings and developments on a topic
  • Examine and consider other methodologies or anal​yses used to study a topic.

 

Using Google Scholar

       

 

Backward Citation Searching

This type of citation searching looks backwards in time. It starts with a current article, and searches for articles that were written BEFORE the current article. These articles were used by the authors when conducting their research on the current article.

Backward citation searching, also known as chain searching, involves identifying and examining the references or works cited in an article.  It is done for the following reasons:

  • Learn about the development of knowledge on a topic. 
  • Study the origins and development of a theory, construct, or model of interest. 
  • Identify experts, institutions or organizations that specialize in a topic of research.

 

Using CINAHL