Selection of Core Dental Journals using Citation Analysis of Scientific Journals in the Field of Dentistry

  Objective: Citation analysis is a bibliometric method used for the calculation of the mean number of citations and detection of highly cited references, frequency distribution of citations in different languages, update rate, efficacy of resources and number of core journals of a scientific domain. This process elucidates the information needs of researchers in a specific realm of science and enhances the knowledge of the authorities and librarians to provide efficient information sources and use the budget for providing a rich collection of scientific materials. This study aimed to perform a citation analysis on dental journals.   Methods: A checklist was prepared including the type of cited material (article, book, thesis, etc.), publication year, language, type of access (consortium, free, none) and if accessible through the consortium, name of the database through which the article can be accessed. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Using Bradford’s law of dispersal of publications, the core journals in the field of dentistry were specified.   Results: The authorities must consider the core journals in each scientific domain when making a decision on purchasing subscription or extending a contract with databases in order to be more successful in obviating the information needs of researchers.   Conclusion: Authorities have to consider the core journals in each field when deciding on purchasing subscription or extending the contract with databases in order to be more successful in obviating the scientific needs of researchers.