Split Citation Identity: A Case Study from Economics

Abstract

Cited documents are concept symbols, that Is, authors cite works which embody ideas they discuss in their papers. Many documents are standard symbols for a single concept, but others are used in connection with multiple concepts. This study, which reviews such a case, reveals the cause of split citation identity: the use of the same document by different networks of researchers. In this case study, citations to a 1948 paper by Lawrence Klein and Herman Rubin are analyzed. The paper introduced the linear expenditure system. In the period 1975–1977, it was being used in connection with two different phrases and two different bibliographic references by two networks of researchers, one dealing with consumer demand systems and the other with the extended linear expenditure system. This article discusses the implications of split citation identity for the analysis of citations to individual articles.