JAAVSO and the Astronomical Community

Volume 52 number 1 (2024)

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Nancy D. Morrison

Department of Physics and Astronomy and Ritter Observatory, MS 113, The University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Toledo OH 43606; jaavso.editor@aavso.org

Abstract

One way to assess a journal’s place in its community of readers is to count the number of times the journal’s articles are referenced. When journal authors cite others’ papers or their own, they are performing a vital function in research. We use citations to: provide support for the assumptions and procedures that we use; provide context for our new results; and give appropriate acknowledgement of others’ work. Citations enable historians, teachers, writers of research papers, and readers to trace the development of scientific ideas over time, in particular giving credit to original discoveries.