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A note on reference publication year spectroscopy with incomplete information

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  • Matthieu Ballandonne

    (ESSCA School of Management)

  • Igor Cersosimo

    (ESSCA School of Management)

Abstract

Reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS) is a scientometrics method that consists in the study of the annual distribution of a corpus’ cited references. The method has already been used in many studies to investigate the historical roots of a research field, topic, or journal. While empirical applications are numerous, no study has yet investigated the statistical aspects of the method and especially how to deal with uncertainty or incompleteness in the data. In this methodological note, we focus on practical issues: the choice of the smoothing method for the running median at the beginning and at the end of the selected timespan, and the presence of reference publication years with zero cited references. The study is based on four datasets for influential journals in economics, management and finance, and some results are generalized using simulated data. We conclude that the “constant” smoothing method is preferable for the calculation of the running median and we discuss the implications of the different ways of dealing with years with zero citations, providing practical recommendations to researchers using RPYS.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:126:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s11192-021-03976-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-021-03976-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aria, Massimo & Cuccurullo, Corrado, 2017. "bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 959-975.
    2. 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.
    3. Mehdi Rhaiem & Lutz Bornmann, 2018. "Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS) with publications in the area of academic efficiency studies: what are the historical roots of this research topic?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(13), pages 1442-1453, March.
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    7. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann, 2010. "How accurately does Thomas Kuhn’s model of paradigm change describe the transition from the static view of the universe to the big bang theory in cosmology?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 441-464, August.
    8. 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.
    9. Franceschini, Fiorenzo & Maisano, Domenico & Mastrogiacomo, Luca, 2016. "Empirical analysis and classification of database errors in Scopus and Web of Science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 933-953.
    10. Lutz Bornmann & Robin Haunschild & Loet Leydesdorff, 2018. "Reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS) of Eugene Garfield’s publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 439-448, February.
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    13. 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.
    14. 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.
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