An explosion in access to electronic databases and digital information is changing the way we view source citation. While the original purpose of referencing--showing the reader exactly where the author got his or her input--is clearly more important than ever, citation is increasingly taking on other roles, ones that have little to do with good…

Discussion of the use of citation indexes for faculty evaluation focuses on potential inequities such as uneven coverage in the discipline of education. Examines Social Sciences Citation Index; and compares its journal selection process with other educational indexing services, including ERIC. (LRW)

Librarians rely on the Institute for Scientific Information's journal impact factor as a tool for selecting periodicals, primarily in scientific disciplines. A current trend is to use this data as a means for evaluating the performance of departments, institutions, and even researchers in academic institutions--a process that is now being tied to…