Adedayo A. V.
The paper presents a study on the analysis of citations made in the introduction section of articles that report empirical research. The goal is to provide preliminary evidence towards validating the proposition that a significant number of citations in introduction sections do not positively contribute to evaluating the performance of scientific publications. In this study, citations from the introduction sections of articles in six scientific journals, each selected from a different continent and published in 2014, were analyzed. Only articles reporting empirical research were included. The study found that over 80% of citations in the introduction sections may not be applicable in computing the effective impact of publications.