IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v129y2024i9d10.1007_s11192-024-05123-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying cohesion in high citation research article titles: a cross-disciplinary and diachronic investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Jiawei Wang

    (Xiamen University)

Abstract

This study presents the result of a cross-disciplinary and diachronic examination of cohesive devices used in high citation research article (HCRA) titles, a hitherto less-explored subgenre of academic discourse. Based on Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2014) Cohesion Model, the research analyzed the employment of connectors in a self-constructed corpus of 30,000 HCRA titles from disciplines of Biology, Chemistry, Linguistics, and Music from 1980 to 2023. Comparisons of disciplinary and diachronic changes of connectors were made in two-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA), and follow-up analyses of variance (ANOVA). Major findings indicate that discipline, as compared to period, is the determinant of cohesion in HCRA titles, albeit in medium effect size. The use of Extension and Enhancement prevail HCRA titles, suggesting an exponential increase of sophistication and comprehensiveness of information in the curation and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Specifically, cohesion of HCRA titles is predominantly realized by additive, temporal, and causal connectors with sharp contrasts between soft and hard sciences, indicating longer titles with these connectors attract readers by harnessing their familiarity of disciplinary knowledge. Quantitative characterization of cohesion in HCRA titles shed light on how expert writers coherently organize titles to maximize informativeness and research impact, thereby contributing pedagogically to academic writing for English for Academic and Specific Purposes, and empirically for the research on the predictability of citation impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiawei Wang, 2024. "Quantifying cohesion in high citation research article titles: a cross-disciplinary and diachronic investigation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(9), pages 5075-5102, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:129:y:2024:i:9:d:10.1007_s11192-024-05123-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-024-05123-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-024-05123-y
    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/s11192-024-05123-y?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. Sergio Jimenez & Youlin Avila & George Dueñas & Alexander Gelbukh, 2020. "Automatic prediction of citability of scientific articles by stylometry of their titles and abstracts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 3187-3232, December.
    2. Hamid R. Jamali & Mahsa Nikzad, 2011. "Article title type and its relation with the number of downloads and citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(2), pages 653-661, August.
    3. Feng Guo & Chao Ma & Qingling Shi & Qingqing Zong, 2018. "Succinct effect or informative effect: the relationship between title length and the number of citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1531-1539, September.
    4. James M. Cook & Dawn Plourde, 2016. "Do scholars follow Betteridge’s Law? The use of questions in journal article titles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1119-1128, September.
    5. Shaoliang Xie, 2020. "English Research Article Titles: Cultural and Disciplinary Perspectives," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.
    6. William S. Pearson, 2021. "Quoted speech in linguistics research article titles: patterns of use and effects on citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3421-3442, April.
    7. John Hudson, 2016. "An analysis of the titles of papers submitted to the UK REF in 2014: authors, disciplines, and stylistic details," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 871-889, November.
    8. Bikun Chen & Dannan Deng & Zhouyan Zhong & Chengzhi Zhang, 2020. "Exploring linguistic characteristics of highly browsed and downloaded academic articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1769-1790, March.
    9. Xuechun Xiang & Jing Li, 2020. "A diachronic comparative study of research article titles in linguistics and literature journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 847-866, February.
    10. Buter, R.K. & van Raan, A.F.J., 2011. "Non-alphanumeric characters in titles of scientific publications: An analysis of their occurrence and correlation with citation impact," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 608-617.
    11. Zhijun LI & Jinfen XU, 2019. "The evolution of research article titles: the case of Journal of Pragmatics 1978–2018," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(3), pages 1619-1634, December.
    12. Fenghua Wang & Ying Fan & An Zeng & Zengru Di, 2019. "Can we predict ESI highly cited publications?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(1), pages 109-125, January.
    13. Fatemeh Rostami & Asghar Mohammadpoorasl & Mohammad Hajizadeh, 2014. "The effect of characteristics of title on citation rates of articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 2007-2010, March.
    14. Nicole Heßler & Andreas Ziegler, 2022. "Evidence-based recommendations for increasing the citation frequency of original articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3367-3381, June.
    15. Moshe Yitzhaki, 2002. "Relation of the title length of a journal article to the length of the article," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 54(3), pages 435-447, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gianna Kexin Jiang & Yajun Jiang, 2023. "More diversity, more complexity, but more flexibility: research article titles in TESOL Quarterly, 1967–2022," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(7), pages 3959-3980, July.
    2. William S. Pearson, 2021. "Quoted speech in linguistics research article titles: patterns of use and effects on citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3421-3442, April.
    3. Lakshmi Balachandran Nair & Michael Gibbert, 2016. "What makes a ‘good’ title and (how) does it matter for citations? A review and general model of article title attributes in management science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1331-1359, June.
    4. Martorell Cunil, Onofre & Otero González, Luis & Durán Santomil, Pablo & Mulet Forteza, Carlos, 2023. "How to accomplish a highly cited paper in the tourism, leisure and hospitality field," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    5. Mike Thelwall, 2017. "Avoiding obscure topics and generalising findings produces higher impact research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(1), pages 307-320, January.
    6. Zhijun LI & Jinfen XU, 2019. "The evolution of research article titles: the case of Journal of Pragmatics 1978–2018," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(3), pages 1619-1634, December.
    7. Julián D. Cortés, 2023. "Top, mid-tier, and predatory alike? The lexical structure of titles and abstracts of six business and management journals," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 297-316, February.
    8. Umar, Tarik, 2022. "Complexity aversion when SeekingAlpha," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    9. Kong, Ling & Wang, Dongbo, 2020. "Comparison of citations and attention of cover and non-cover papers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    10. Qianjin Zong & Yafen Xie & Rongchan Tuo & Jingshi Huang & Yang Yang, 2019. "The impact of video abstract on citation counts: evidence from a retrospective cohort study of New Journal of Physics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(3), pages 1715-1727, June.
    11. Sergio Jimenez & Youlin Avila & George Dueñas & Alexander Gelbukh, 2020. "Automatic prediction of citability of scientific articles by stylometry of their titles and abstracts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 3187-3232, December.
    12. Iman Tahamtan & Askar Safipour Afshar & Khadijeh Ahamdzadeh, 2016. "Factors affecting number of citations: a comprehensive review of the literature," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1195-1225, June.
    13. C. Sean Burns & Md. Anwarul Islam, 2024. "A citation analysis examining geographical specificity in article titles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 4317-4328, July.
    14. Feng Guo & Chao Ma & Qingling Shi & Qingqing Zong, 2018. "Succinct effect or informative effect: the relationship between title length and the number of citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1531-1539, September.
    15. James Hartley, 2015. "Inaccuracies in titles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(1), pages 329-330, April.
    16. Sepideh Fahimifar & Khadijeh Mousavi & Fatemeh Mozaffari & Marcel Ausloos, 2023. "Identification of the most important external features of highly cited scholarly papers through 3 (i.e., Ridge, Lasso, and Boruta) feature selection data mining methods," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3685-3712, August.
    17. ↓Xia Peng & Zequan Xiong & Li Yang, 2024. "Can document characteristics affect motivations for literature usage?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(6), pages 3543-3563, June.
    18. William S. Pearson, 2020. "Research article titles in written feedback on English as a second language writing," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 997-1019, May.
    19. Xuechun Xiang & Jing Li, 2020. "A diachronic comparative study of research article titles in linguistics and literature journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 847-866, February.
    20. Ajiferuke, Isola & Famoye, Felix, 2015. "Modelling count response variables in informetric studies: Comparison among count, linear, and lognormal regression models," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 499-513.

    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:129:y:2024:i:9:d:10.1007_s11192-024-05123-y. 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.