IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v130y2025i3d10.1007_s11192-025-05258-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diachronic change in lexical complexity of research articles (1970–2020): economics vs. medicine

Author

Listed:
  • Fan Pan

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Yiying Yang

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Previous research on linguistic complexity features in research articles (RAs) has mainly focused on synchronic comparisons across disciplines or expertise levels. Relatively little research has been conducted from a diachronic perspective. The aim of the present study was to examine diachronic changes and disciplinary variations in the lexical complexity of RAs. A diachronic corpus consisting of 960 journal articles published between 1970 and 2020 in economics and medicine was compiled for analysis. Nine measures incorporated in Lu’s (2012) Lexical Complexity Analyzer were adopted to operationalize three dimensions of lexical complexity for all the texts. Results showed an increasing trend over the 50 years in the lexical density, variation, and sophistication of RAs in the two disciplines. More specifically, RAs in both disciplines have become more lexically complex over time, producing an increasing proportion of lexical words, a larger number of sophisticated words, and a wider diversity of word types. Results also showed that the two disciplines varied significantly in the complexity measures, with medicine generally exhibiting a higher level of lexical complexity during the examined period. These observed changes and variations could be interpreted as a result of shifting research paradigms and practices in the two disciplines. The findings of this study would facilitate a further understanding of linguistic changes occurring in disciplinary writing.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan Pan & Yiying Yang, 2025. "Diachronic change in lexical complexity of research articles (1970–2020): economics vs. medicine," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(3), pages 1789-1812, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05258-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05258-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-025-05258-6
    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/s11192-025-05258-6?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.

    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:130:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05258-6. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.