IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v110y2017i1d10.1007_s11192-016-2177-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Which early works are cited most frequently in climate change research literature? A bibliometric approach based on Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy

Author

Listed:
  • Werner Marx

    (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

  • Robin Haunschild

    (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

  • Andreas Thor

    (Hochschule für Telekommunikation Leipzig)

  • Lutz Bornmann

    (Administrative Headquarters of the Max Planck Society)

Abstract

This bibliometric analysis focuses on the general history of climate change research and, more specifically, on the discovery of the greenhouse effect. First, the Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS) is applied to a large publication set on climate change of 222,060 papers published between 1980 and 2014. The references cited therein were extracted and analyzed with regard to publications, which are cited most frequently. Second, a new method for establishing a more subject-specific publication set for applying RPYS (based on the co-citations of a marker reference) is proposed (RPYS-CO). The RPYS of the climate change literature focuses on the history of climate change research in total. We identified 35 highly-cited publications across all disciplines, which include fundamental early scientific works of the nineteenth century (with a weak connection to climate change) and some cornerstones of science with a stronger connection to climate change. By using the Arrhenius (Philos Mag J Sci Ser 5(41):237–276, 1896) paper as a RPYS-CO marker paper, we selected only publications specifically discussing the discovery of the greenhouse effect and the role of carbon dioxide. Using different RPYS approaches in this study, we were able to identify the complete range of works of the celebrated icons as well as many less known works relevant for the history of climate change research. The analyses confirmed the potential of the RPYS method for historical studies: Seminal papers are detected on the basis of the references cited by the overall community without any further assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Werner Marx & Robin Haunschild & Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann, 2017. "Which early works are cited most frequently in climate change research literature? A bibliometric approach based on Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(1), pages 335-353, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:110:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-016-2177-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-2177-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-016-2177-x
    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/s11192-016-2177-x?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. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann, 2014. "Tracing the origin of a scientific legend by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS): the legend of the Darwin finches," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 839-844, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Thor, Andreas & Marx, Werner & Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz, 2016. "Introducing CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer): A program for reference publication year spectroscopy with cited references standardization," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 503-515.
    4. Werner Marx, 2011. "Special features of historical papers from the viewpoint of bibliometrics," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(3), pages 433-439, March.
    5. Waltman, Ludo, 2016. "A review of the literature on citation impact indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 365-391.
    6. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann & Andreas Barth & Loet Leydesdorff, 2014. "Detecting the historical roots of research fields by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(4), pages 751-764, April.
    7. Werner Marx, 2011. "Special features of historical papers from the viewpoint of bibliometrics," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(3), pages 433-439, March.
    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. Comins, Jordan A. & Hussey, Thomas W., 2015. "Compressing multiple scales of impact detection by Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 449-454.
    10. Bornmann, Lutz & Haunschild, Robin, 2016. "Citation score normalized by cited references (CSNCR): The introduction of a new citation impact indicator," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 875-887.
    11. Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner & Milojević, Staša, 2014. "Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy applied to iMetrics: Scientometrics, Journal of Informetrics, and a relevant subset of JASIST," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 162-174.
    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. Tian-Yuan Huang & Liangping Ding & Yong-Qiang Yu & Lei Huang & Liying Yang, 2023. "From AR5 to AR6: exploring research advancement in climate change based on scientific evidence from IPCC WGI reports," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5227-5245, September.
    2. Thomas Scheidsteger & Robin Haunschild, 2020. "Telling the story of solar energy meteorology into the satellite era by applying (co-citation) reference publication year spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1159-1177, November.
    3. Ferenc Jankó & Judit Papp Vancsó & Norbert Móricz, 2017. "Is climate change controversy good for science? IPCC and contrarian reports in the light of bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1745-1759, September.
    4. Dmitry A. Ruban & Natalia N. Yashalova & Olga A. Cherednichenko & Natalya A. Dovgot’ko, 2020. "Climate Change, Agriculture, and Energy Transition: What Do the Thirty Most-Cited Articles Tell Us?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    5. Hui-Zhen Fu & Ludo Waltman, 2022. "A large-scale bibliometric analysis of global climate change research between 2001 and 2018," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-21, February.
    6. Mostafa, Mohamed M., 2022. "Five decades of catastrophe theory research: Geographical atlas, knowledge structure and historical roots," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    7. Matthieu Ballandonne & Igor Cersosimo, 2021. "A note on reference publication year spectroscopy with incomplete information," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 4927-4939, June.
    8. Robin Haunschild & Werner Marx, 2020. "Discovering seminal works with marker papers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2955-2969, December.
    9. 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.

    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. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann, 2016. "Change of perspective: bibliometrics from the point of view of cited references—a literature overview on approaches to the evaluation of cited references in bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 1397-1415, November.
    2. McLevey, John & McIlroy-Young, Reid, 2017. "Introducing metaknowledge: Software for computational research in information science, network analysis, and science of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 176-197.
    3. 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.
    4. Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann & Werner Marx & Rüdiger Mutz, 2018. "Identifying single influential publications in a research field: new analysis opportunities of the CRExplorer," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 591-608, July.
    5. Jianhua Hou, 2017. "Exploration into the evolution and historical roots of citation analysis by referenced publication year spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1437-1452, March.
    6. Comins, Jordan A. & Carmack, Stephanie A. & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2018. "Patent citation spectroscopy (PCS): Online retrieval of landmark patents based on an algorithmic approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1223-1231.
    7. Thor, Andreas & Marx, Werner & Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz, 2016. "Introducing CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer): A program for reference publication year spectroscopy with cited references standardization," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 503-515.
    8. Matthieu Ballandonne & Igor Cersosimo, 2021. "A note on reference publication year spectroscopy with incomplete information," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 4927-4939, June.
    9. Jordan A. Comins & Loet Leydesdorff, 2017. "Citation algorithms for identifying research milestones driving biomedical innovation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1495-1504, March.
    10. 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.
    11. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    12. Jordan A. Comins & Thomas W. Hussey, 2015. "Detecting seminal research contributions to the development and use of the global positioning system by reference publication year spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(2), pages 575-580, August.
    13. Loet Leydesdorff & Paul Wouters & Lutz Bornmann, 2016. "Professional and citizen bibliometrics: complementarities and ambivalences in the development and use of indicators—a state-of-the-art report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 2129-2150, December.
    14. Bakthavachalam Elango & Lutz Bornmann & Govindaraju Kannan, 2016. "Detecting the historical roots of tribology research: a bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(1), pages 305-313, April.
    15. Xin Li & Qiang Yao & Xuli Tang & Qian Li & Mengjia Wu, 2020. "How to investigate the historical roots and evolution of research fields in China? A case study on iMetrics using RootCite," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1253-1274, November.
    16. K. Brad Wray & Lutz Bornmann, 2015. "Philosophy of science viewed through the lense of “Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy” (RPYS)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(3), pages 1987-1996, March.
    17. Lutz Bornmann & Rüdiger Mutz, 2015. "Growth rates of modern science: A bibliometric analysis based on the number of publications and cited references," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(11), pages 2215-2222, November.
    18. K. Brad Wray & Søren R. Paludan & Lutz Bornmann & Robin Haunschild, 2024. "Using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS) to analyze the research and publication culture in immunology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(6), pages 3271-3283, June.
    19. Lutz Bornmann & Werner Marx, 2012. "The effect of several versions of one and the same manuscript published by a journal on its journal impact factor," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 277-279, August.
    20. Liu, Weishu & Hu, Guangyuan & Tang, Li, 2018. "Missing author address information in Web of Science—An explorative study," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 985-997.

    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:110:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-016-2177-x. 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.