Contextual cocitation: Augmenting cocitation analysis and its applications

In this work, a novel method of cocitation analysis, coined “contextual cocitation analysis,” is introduced and described in comparison to traditional methods of cocitation analysis. Equations for quantifying contextual cocitation strength are introduced and their implications explored using theoretical examples alongside the application of contextual cocitation to a series of BioMed Central publications and their cited resources. Based on this work, the implications of contextual cocitation for understanding the granularity of the relationships created between cited published research and methods for its analysis are discussed. Future applications and improvements of this work, including its extended application to the published research of multiple disciplines, are then presented with rationales for their inclusion.