Theoretical Frameworks

Citations and acknowledgments are at the core of the empirical investigations conducted in this book. In this chapter, the main theories developed to explain the meaning and function of these two para-textual elements are presented. Against this background, the theoretical approach that underlies the empirical studies of the next sections of the book is delineated. Citation theories are divided into causal and structural theories. The former group includes two opposing theories proposed by sociologists of science (i.e., the normative and the persuasion theory of citations). The latter includes a theory developed by scientometricians (the theory of indicators) and the theoretical approach chosen for the book (the epistemic theory of citations). As to the acknowledgments theory, two accounts, the normative and the strategic, are presented. Drawing elements from both of them, the approach of the book, called the theory of acknowledgments as positioning signals, is distilled.