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Is scientific literature subject to a ‘Sell‐By‐Date’? A general methodology to analyze the ‘durability’ of scientific documents

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  • Rodrigo Costas
  • Thed N. van Leeuwen
  • Anthony F.J. van Raan

Abstract

The study of the citation histories and ageing of documents are topics that have been addressed from several perspectives, especially in the analysis of documents with “delayed recognition” or “sleeping beauties.” However, there is no general methodology that can be extensively applied for different time periods or research fields. In this article, a new methodology for the general analysis of the ageing and “durability” of scientific papers is presented. This methodology classifies documents into three general types: delayed documents, which receive the main part of their citations later than normal documents; flashes in the pan, which receive citations immediately after their publication but are not cited in the long term; and normal documents, documents with a typical distribution of citations over time. These three types of durability have been analyzed considering the whole population of documents in the Web of Science with at least 5 external citations (i.e., not considering self‐citations). Several patterns related to the three types of durability have been found and the potential for further research of the developed methodology is discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • 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 American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(2), pages 329-339, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:61:y:2010:i:2:p:329-339
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21244
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Marcel Clermont & Johanna Krolak & Dirk Tunger, 2021. "Does the citation period have any effect on the informative value of selected citation indicators in research evaluations?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1019-1047, February.
    2. Jian Wang & Bart Thijs & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2015. "Interdisciplinarity and Impact: Distinct Effects of Variety, Balance, and Disparity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Jianhua Hou & Hao Li & Yang Zhang, 2023. "Altmetrics-based sleeping beauties: necessity or just a supplement?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(10), pages 5477-5506, October.
    4. Cristina López-Duarte & Marta M. Vidal-Suárez & Belén González-Díaz, 2019. "Cross-national distance and international business: an analysis of the most influential recent models," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 173-208, October.
    5. Jianhua Hou & Xiucai Yang & Yang Zhang, 2023. "The effect of social media knowledge cascade: an analysis of scientific papers diffusion," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5169-5195, September.
    6. Jianhua Hou & Xiucai Yang, 2019. "Patent sleeping beauties: evolutionary trajectories and identification methods," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(1), pages 187-215, July.
    7. Hui Fang, 2019. "A transition stage co-citation criterion for identifying the awakeners of sleeping beauty publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 307-322, October.
    8. Liu, Xuan Zhen & Fang, Hui, 2020. "A comparison among citation-based journal indicators and their relative changes with time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    9. ZhangJian Zong & XuanZhen Liu & Hui Fang, 2018. "Sleeping beauties with no prince based on the co-citation criterion," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(3), pages 1841-1852, December.

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