IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v101y2014i2d10.1007_s11192-014-1237-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing obliteration by incorporation in a full-text database: JSTOR, Economics, and the concept of “bounded rationality”

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine W. McCain

    (Drexel University)

Abstract

To evaluate the usefulness of a full-text database as a source for assessing obliteration by incorporation (OBI), 3,707 article records including the catchphrases “bounded rationality” and/or “boundedly rational” (connected with the work of H. A. Simon) in the article text were retrieved from JSTOR, a full-text database with broad disciplinary coverage. Two subsets were analyzed—a 10 % systematic sample of all records and a set of all articles in Economics journals (with the addition of the Journal of Economic Theory). A majority of articles in the 10 % sample came from Economics and Management journals, while Psychology was poorly represented. In the 10 % sample, based on the percentage of true implicit citations between 1992 and 2009 in the 80 % of records that had a catchphrase in the body of the article, rather than just in the reference list, annual OBI ranged from 0 to 70 % (mean 33 %) with no discernible trend. The Economics articles showed a narrower range of OBI—fluctuating around 40 % implicit citations over the same time period. In both data sets, a large proportion of indirect citations were to sources that themselves cited a relevant work by Simon. Over 90 % of the articles in both the 10 % sample and the economics journal set would not have been retrieved with a database record search because they lacked the catchphrase in the record fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine W. McCain, 2014. "Assessing obliteration by incorporation in a full-text database: JSTOR, Economics, and the concept of “bounded rationality”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(2), pages 1445-1459, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:101:y:2014:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1237-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1237-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-014-1237-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-014-1237-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rodrigo Costas & Thed N. van Leeuwen & Anthony F.J. van Raan, 2010. "Is scientific literature subject to a ‘Sell-By-Date’? A general methodology to analyze the ‘durability’ of scientific documents," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(2), pages 329-339, February.
    2. Peiling Wang & Marilyn Domas White, 1999. "A cognitive model of document use during a research project. Study II. Decisions at the reading and citing stages," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 50(2), pages 98-114.
    3. Jean Heck & Peter Zaleski & Scott Dressler, 2009. "Leading institutional contributors to the elite economic journals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(17), pages 2191-2196.
    4. Anthony F. J. van Raan, 2004. "Sleeping Beauties in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 59(3), pages 467-472, March.
    5. Katherine W. McCain, 2012. "Assessing Obliteration by Incorporation: Issues and Caveats," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(11), pages 2129-2139, November.
    6. Quentin L. Burrell, 2012. "Alternative thoughts on uncitedness," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(7), pages 1466-1470, July.
    7. Michael H. MacRoberts & Barbara R. MacRoberts, 1989. "Problems of citation analysis: A critical review," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 40(5), pages 342-349, September.
    8. Katherine W. McCain, 2012. "Assessing Obliteration by Incorporation: Issues and Caveats," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(11), pages 2129-2139, November.
    9. Nigel Harwood, 2008. "Publication outlets and their effect on academic writers’ citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 77(2), pages 253-265, November.
    10. Quentin L. Burrell, 2012. "Alternative thoughts on uncitedness," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(7), pages 1466-1470, July.
    11. Katherine W. McCain, 2011. "Eponymy and Obliteration by Incorporation: The case of the “Nash Equilibrium”," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(7), pages 1412-1424, July.
    12. Derek De Solla Price, 1976. "A general theory of bibliometric and other cumulative advantage processes," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 27(5), pages 292-306, September.
    13. Stigler, George J & Stigler, Stephen M & Friedland, Claire, 1995. "The Journals of Economics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 331-359, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. András Schubert & Wolfgang Glänzel & Gábor Schubert, 2022. "Eponyms in science: famed or framed?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(3), pages 1199-1207, March.
    2. Toluwase Victor Asubiaro & Isola Ajiferuke, 2022. "Semantic similarity-based credit attribution on citation paths: a method for allocating residual citation to and investigating depth of influence of scientific communications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6257-6277, November.
    3. Guillaume Cabanac, 2018. "What is the primordial reference for ...?—Redux," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 481-488, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Jiang & Shi, Dongbo & Zhao, Star X. & Ye, Fred Y., 2014. "A study of the “heartbeat spectra” for “sleeping beauties”," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 493-502.
    2. András Schubert & Wolfgang Glänzel & Gábor Schubert, 2022. "Eponyms in science: famed or framed?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(3), pages 1199-1207, March.
    3. Hu, Zewen & Wu, Yishan, 2014. "Regularity in the time-dependent distribution of the percentage of never-cited papers: An empirical pilot study based on the six journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 136-146.
    4. Werner Marx & Robin Haunschild & Bernie French & Lutz Bornmann, 2017. "Slow reception and under-citedness in climate change research: A case study of Charles David Keeling, discoverer of the risk of global warming," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(2), pages 1079-1092, August.
    5. Guillaume Cabanac, 2014. "Extracting and quantifying eponyms in full-text articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1631-1645, March.
    6. Rodrigo Costas & Thed N. Leeuwen & Anthony F. J. Raan, 2011. "The “Mendel syndrome” in science: durability of scientific literature and its effects on bibliometric analysis of individual scientists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(1), pages 177-205, October.
    7. Min, Chao & Sun, Jianjun & Pei, Lei & Ding, Ying, 2016. "Measuring delayed recognition for papers: Uneven weighted summation and total citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 1153-1165.
    8. Wang, Guoyan & Hu, Guangyuan & Li, Chuanfeng & Tang, Li, 2018. "Long live the scientists: Tracking the scientific fame of great minds in physics," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1089-1098.
    9. Jianhua Hou & Xiucai Yang, 2019. "Patent sleeping beauties: evolutionary trajectories and identification methods," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(1), pages 187-215, July.
    10. Colavizza, Giovanni & Franceschet, Massimo, 2016. "Clustering citation histories in the Physical Review," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 1037-1051.
    11. Mike Thelwall, 2019. "The influence of highly cited papers on field normalised indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(2), pages 519-537, February.
    12. Jiang Li & Fred Y. Ye, 2016. "Distinguishing sleeping beauties in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 821-828, August.
    13. Thelwall, Mike & Wilson, Paul, 2014. "Regression for citation data: An evaluation of different methods," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 963-971.
    14. Miguel A. García-Pérez, 2013. "Limited validity of equations to predict the future h index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 901-909, September.
    15. Onodera, Natsuo, 2016. "Properties of an index of citation durability of an article," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 981-1004.
    16. Franceschet, Massimo & Costantini, Antonio, 2011. "The first Italian research assessment exercise: A bibliometric perspective," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 275-291.
    17. Zhang, Ruizhi & Wang, Jian & Mei, Yajun, 2017. "Search for evergreens in science: A functional data analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 629-644.
    18. Fairclough, Ruth & Thelwall, Mike, 2015. "More precise methods for national research citation impact comparisons," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 895-906.
    19. Roth, Camille & Wu, Jiang & Lozano, Sergi, 2012. "Assessing impact and quality from local dynamics of citation networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 111-120.
    20. Wang, Jian & Veugelers, Reinhilde & Stephan, Paula, 2017. "Bias against novelty in science: A cautionary tale for users of bibliometric indicators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1416-1436.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:101:y:2014:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1237-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.