The purpose of this study was to Identify the similarities and differences between the hyperlinking practice of scholarly e-journal authors and conventional citing practice. 230 scholarly e-journal articles containing at least two hyperlinks and their...
The purpose of this study was to Identify the similarities and differences between the hyperlinking practice of scholarly e-journal authors and conventional citing practice. 230 scholarly e-journal articles containing at least two hyperlinks and their authors were selected as the sample for the study. A mail questionnaire survey of the authors of the sampled e-journal articles was conducted (with a response rate of $70\%$) to collect quantitative data on the authors' hyperlinking motivations. In addition, a content analysis of the e-journal articles and the source documents hyperlinked in the articles was conducted to examine the patterns of hyperlinks. A comparison between the quantitative results of this hyperlinking study and previous citation studies was made. The results revealed not only some similarities but also several significant differences between them.