Study of Referencing Pattern and Characteristics of Citations in Economics Theses

This study analysed citations appeared in the economics postgraduates' theses in order to identify their referencing pattern and bibliographic characteristics. 1975 citations appended in the 16 masters and 2 doctoral dissertations on economics submitted from 1996 to 2014 to the main library, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka were analysed. These citations were examined to find out the distribution of authorship pattern, bibliographic form, core journals, geographical location, language and subject wise distribution of journal citations. The results revealed that the monographs are the most dominant bibliographic format of literature on economics research while single authorship prevails among the citations. Chronological distribution of the citations were examined and it was found that most of the cited materials were 20 years old or less in age and the highest citations were recorded in the period from 1991 to 2000. Most of the publications cited by the economics researchers were published in English language. The most cited journal titles were identified from the citations from journal literature while majority were from foreign journals and 89% of the journals were on economics followed by 2% on public administration. The highest journal citations were recorded in the period from1986 to 1995 with 34% of citations. The findings from this study could serve as a tool for collection development and can be used to guide collection maintenance and design of user services in libraries.