OBJECTIVETo analyze the distribution pattern of the references in National Journal of Andrology (NJA) and Asian Journal of Andrology (AJA), and evaluate the ability of information collection and the characteristics of literatures requested by scientists of andrology.

METHODSThe citation analysis was used to analyze the references cited by articles published on the two journals, including the number, type and publication year of references, and Price Index, self-citing rate of the two journals and top cited journals were analyzed individually.

RESULTSThe average numbers of references per article in AJA and NJA were 20.43 and 10.18 respectively, and the percentages of journals cited by the two journals were 95.84% and 93%. The Price indices were 38.50% and 55.01%, and self-citing rates were 6.20% and 5.82% for the two journals respectively. There were 358 and 725 journals cited by AJA and NJA, the top 12 of which provided 42.47% and 37.41% of all references respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe main reference type was journal. NJA cited more disciplines than AJA did, and it cited more current publications. The result shows authors in NJA can use latest articles and keep abreast of progress in andrology. AJA had more references and relatively concentrated cited journal categories, and citing half-life of AJA was longer than that of NJA.