Tracking the use of engineering conference papers: citation influence of the Stapp Car Crash Conference

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the use of engineering conference papers by examining where the papers presented at the Stapp Car Crash Conference from 1980‐2005 were subsequently cited. Also, to examine whether the references were made to the conference paper or to the individual, the SAE Technical Paper, the second publication method. It also aims to study whether the citations were made to the lead author or secondary authors.Design/methodology/approachThe individual papers were searched inScience Citation Indexon the Web of Science platform using the “Cited author” search and the appropriate work(s) were selected using the “Cited work” information. The number of citations to each paper was recorded and the bibliographic information from the citing articles for the “top cited” articles were retrieved and examined to determine the subject focus of the citing journals.FindingsAlmost two‐thirds of the papers from the Stapp Car Crash Conference were cited at least once, mirroring that of engineering journal articles. These citations appear in journals representing a wide variety of disciplines besides engineering including journals covering “clinical neurology”, “orthopedics”, “rehabilitation” and “surgery”. The majority of citations (92 per cent) were found to be to the lead author and approximately 85 per cent were cited as papers within the conference proceedings with the remaining papers cited as individual technical papers.Originality/valueThe results on the impact and use of engineering conference papers, especially the results in terms of author and material type, will provide valuable insight into this literature, providing librarians and researchers with a better understanding of their use in the advancement of research and scholarship.