Hyperlinking to Academic Websites: Salient Features Examined

Xing, Ying and Chu, Heting Hyperlinking to Academic Websites: Salient Features Examined., 2006 UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished) [Other]

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English abstract

OBJECTIVE: To explore in depth and comprehensively features of inlinks (incoming links) as opposed to that of citations so that better understanding can be achieved with regard to the limitations and implications in using links for evaluative webometric research. DESIGN & MEASUREMENTS: A total of 446 randomly selected cases of hyperlinking to 15 medical schools’ websites were analyzed and then classified into a revised version of a taxonomy created in a previous study for identifying linking motivations. The classification of the linking data was accomplished within the context of linking and linked sites as well as based on reasons for hyperlinking. RESULTS: This research shows that only 5% and 7% of all the inlinks analyzed were made for reasons relating respectively to teaching/learning and research whereas 88% of the hyperlinks the target sites received were created for motivations germane to service and general nature. These findings demonstrate that inlinking is not the same as citing since inlinks exhibit features considerably different from that of citations in at least several aspects: 1) Inlinks mainly point to the ofness of target sites rather than their aboutness. 2) Inlinks cannot achieve the same level of quality in referencing as citations. 3) It is more difficult to determine reasons for hyperlinking given its unique nature. CONCLUSION: Inlink counts alone cannot serve as quality indicators for scholarly and evaluation purposes. Other factors (e.g., authors and intellectual contents of linked entities) have to be considered in evaluative, link-based webometric research.

Item type: Other
Keywords: Websites, inlinks, hyperlinks, medical schools, webometrics, content analysis
Subjects: I. Information treatment for information services > IB. Content analysis (A and I, class.)
B. Information use and sociology of information > BB. Bibliometric methods
H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HQ. Web pages.
Depositing user: Heting Chu
Date deposited: 17 Sep 2007
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:09
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/10398

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