A survey of the Shiite Studies in Islamic reference works

This study analyzed the Shiite articles references and Shiite entries and discussions in the Encyclopedia World of Islam (EWI) and the Encyclopedia of Islam (EI).
The citation analysis method is used, and means of gathering data are Daricheh software and text mining. The statistic Population consists of all Shiite entries in both encyclopedias.
Findings: The number of Shiite entries in EWI is eight times more than EI. All references in Shiite articles of EWI are 502 times (Shiite sources 199 times and Sunni sources 303 times) but in EI, only the sources of Sunni were referred (484 times). Shiite articles in EWI are more documented than the Shiite articles in EI.
In both encyclopedias, there are many qualitative and quantitative differences in Shiite studies. The quantity of Shiite entries of EI is very low, but in EWI this defect was resolved. In compiling Shiite article of EI none of the Shiite sources were referred and just Sunni sources were referred whereas in EWI this case is adjusted.