The number of linked references of publications in Microsoft Academic in comparison with the Web of Science

TL;DR

This study compares the quality of linked references in Microsoft Academic with Web of Science, revealing weak overall concordance but strong agreement in specific subsets, impacting bibliometric reliability.

Contribution

It provides an initial assessment of linked reference data quality in Microsoft Academic compared to Web of Science, highlighting discrepancies and conditions for better agreement.

Findings

Weak to no overall concordance between MA and WoS for linked references.

Strong agreement observed when focusing on publications with fewer than 50 references in WoS.

Linked references are crucial for bibliometrics and citation analysis.

Abstract

In the context of a comprehensive Microsoft Academic (MA) study, we explored in an initial step the quality of linked references data in MA in comparison with Web of Science (WoS). Linked references are the backbone of bibliometrics, because they are the basis of the times cited information in citation indexes. We found that the concordance of linked references between MA and WoS ranges from weak to non-existent for the full sample (publications of the University of Zurich with less than 50 linked references in MA). An analysis with a sample restricted to less than 50 linked references in WoS showed a strong agreement between linked references in MA and WoS.