This article is the first of a series of three that reviews the citation patterns of references cited in the entire collection of International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) journal articles (1962–2007) and all chapters published in the three editions of Handbook of Human Performance Technology (1992, 1999, and 2006). It includes an analysis of journal articles cited and lists which journals and particular articles are cited most frequently, both overall and by decade. Part 2 in this series will present an analysis of books cited in the entire ISPI literature collection, and part 3 will report on the most cited authors, both overall and by type of reference (e.g., journal articles, books, sections of books, reports, conference papers, dissertations).