Examining the use of supportive and contrasting citations in different disciplines: a brief study using Scite (scite.ai) data

Abstract

This study uses citation data from the Scite (scite.ai) web tool to determine which disciplines frequently use citations that either support or contrast previous works. The raw citation type data provided by the scite.ai tool is sorted into categories of “mentioning,” “supporting,” and “contrasting” to identify the disciplines that commonly use supporting citations and those that frequently use contrasting or combative citations. This data from scite.ai was aligned to major academic disciplines, as defined by Web of Science. Medicine has the most combative citations, while mathematics has the least. However, it is important to note that the “combativeness” of disciplines should not be seen as a negative. In fields like medicine, where flawed hypotheses or study findings can have serious consequences, it is necessary to challenge problematic ideas and findings. This study adds a new dimension of depth by not only examining the frequency of mentioning, supporting, and contrasting citation, but also employing and evaluating the efficacy of the scite.ai tool for this purpose.