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The decline in the concentration of citations, 1900–2007

Author

Listed:
  • Vincent Larivière
  • Yves Gingras
  • Éric Archambault

Abstract

This article challenges recent research (Evans, 2008) reporting that the concentration of cited scientific literature increases with the online availability of articles and journals. Using Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, the present article analyses changes in the concentration of citations received (2‐ and 5‐year citation windows) by papers published between 1900 and 2005. Three measures of concentration are used: the percentage of papers that received at least one citation (cited papers); the percentage of papers needed to account for 20%, 50%, and 80% of the citations; and the Herfindahl‐Hirschman index (HHI). These measures are used for four broad disciplines: natural sciences and engineering, medical fields, social sciences, and the humanities. All these measures converge and show that, contrary to what was reported by Evans, the dispersion of citations is actually increasing.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Larivière & Yves Gingras & Éric Archambault, 2009. "The decline in the concentration of citations, 1900–2007," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(4), pages 858-862, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:60:y:2009:i:4:p:858-862
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21011
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    Cited by:

    1. Katrin Hussinger & Lorenzo Palladini, 2024. "Information accessibility and knowledge creation: the impact of Google’s withdrawal from China on scientific research," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 753-783, July.
    2. Staša Milojević & Cassidy R. Sugimoto & Erjia Yan & Ying Ding, 2011. "The cognitive structure of Library and Information Science: Analysis of article title words," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(10), pages 1933-1953, October.
    3. Matthias Aistleitner & Jakob Kapeller & Stefan Steinerberger, 2018. "Citation Patterns in Economics and Beyond," Working Papers Series 85, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    4. Florentin GLOETZL & Ernest AIGNER, 2017. "Six Dimensions of Concentration in Economics: Scientometric Evidence from a Large-Scale Data Set," Ecological Economics Papers ieep15, Institute of Ecological Economics.
    5. Aistleitner, Matthias & Kapeller, Jakob & Kronberger, Dominik, 2022. "The authors of economics journals revisited: Evidence from a large-scale replication of Hodgson & Rothman (1999)," ifso working paper series 20, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    6. Aistleitner, Matthias & Kapeller, Jakob & Kronberger, Dominik, 2023. "The authors of economics journals revisited: evidence from a large-scale replication of Hodgson and Rothman (1999)," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 86-101, February.
    7. Shu, Fei & Julien, Charles-Antoine & Zhang, Lin & Qiu, Junping & Zhang, Jing & Larivière, Vincent, 2019. "Comparing journal and paper level classifications of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 202-225.
    8. Neil Gandal & Michal Shur-Ofry & Michael Crystal & Royee Shilony, 2021. "Out of sight: patents that have never been cited," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 2903-2929, April.
    9. Stefano Mammola & Diego Fontaneto & Alejandro Martínez & Filipe Chichorro, 2021. "Impact of the reference list features on the number of citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 785-799, January.
    10. Eitan Frachtenberg, 2022. "Multifactor Citation Analysis over Five Years: A Case Study of SIGMETRICS Papers," Publications, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Giovanni Colavizza, 2018. "A diachronic study of historiography," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(3), pages 2117-2131, December.
    12. Michel Grossetti & Denis Eckert & Yves Gingras & Laurent Jégou & Vincent Larivière & Béatrice Milard, 2014. "Cities and the geographical deconcentration of scientific activity: A multilevel analysis of publications (1987–2007)," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(10), pages 2219-2234, August.

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