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On the time evolution of received citations, in different scientific fields: An empirical study

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  • Finardi, Ugo

Abstract

The time evolution of mean received citations is calculated on a sample of journals from two ISI subject categories (“Chemistry, multidisciplinary”, ISI Science Edition, and “Management”, ISI Social Science edition) with the use of an original methodology. Mean received citations are plotted against the time gap in years existing between publication of the cited article and received citations. For most Chemistry journals in the sample the maximum number of average received citations occurs two years after publication, and then a decrease is experimented. Some peculiar cases present a different trend. Management journals, conversely, do not present in most cases a peak of citations: average received citations instead grow from year of publication to the age of 10 years (maximum time gap studied). A subsample of journals show similar results for longer time series (up to 23 years). Medians of average received citations per year partly show a similar behavior. Results suggest that citedness follows very different trends in very different fields, and partly suggest why differences in Journal Impact Factor exist between different categories. At the end of the work conclusions are drawn, together with suggestions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Finardi, Ugo, 2014. "On the time evolution of received citations, in different scientific fields: An empirical study," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 13-24.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:8:y:2014:i:1:p:13-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2013.10.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Delbianco, Fernando & Fioriti, Andrés & Hernandez-Chanto, Allan & Tohmé, Fernando, 2020. "A Markov-switching approach to the study of citations in academic journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    2. Marcelo Mendoza, 2021. "Differences in Citation Patterns across Areas, Article Types and Age Groups of Researchers," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Hu, Ya-Han & Tai, Chun-Tien & Liu, Kang Ernest & Cai, Cheng-Fang, 2020. "Identification of highly-cited papers using topic-model-based and bibliometric features: the consideration of keyword popularity," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    5. Ugo Finardi, 2015. "Nanotechnologies for textiles, fabrics and clothing: an overview of the scientific literature on the topic," IRCrES Working Paper 201503, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.
    6. Mingkun Wei & Abdolreza Noroozi Chakoli, 2020. "Evaluating the relationship between the academic and social impact of open access books based on citation behaviors and social media attention," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2401-2420, December.
    7. Lin Zhang & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2017. "A citation-based cross-disciplinary study on literature ageing: part II—diachronous aspects," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1559-1572, June.
    8. Lukun Zheng & Yuhang Jiang, 2022. "Combining dissimilarity measures for quantifying changes in research fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3751-3765, July.
    9. Naomi Fukuzawa & Takanori Ida, 2016. "Science linkages between scientific articles and patents for leading scientists in the life and medical sciences field: the case of Japan," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(2), pages 629-644, February.
    10. Aaron Lercher & Lawrence Smolinsky, 2016. "Persistent value of older scientific journal articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1205-1220, September.
    11. Mike Thelwall & Pardeep Sud, 2021. "Do new research issues attract more citations? A comparison between 25 Scopus subject categories," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(3), pages 269-279, March.
    12. Ugo Finardi, 2017. "Long time series of highly cited articles: an empirical study," IRCrES Working Paper 201712, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.
    13. Naomi Fukuzawa & Takanori Ida, 2014. "Science linkages focused on star scientists in the life and medical sciences: The case of Japan," Discussion papers e-14-006, Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University.

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