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Garfield’s demon and “surprising” or “unexpected” results in science

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  • Michal Jasienski

    (Nowy Sacz Business School — National-Louis University)

Abstract

The relative occurrence of the words “surprising” and “unexpected” in the titles of scientific papers was 11 times more common in 2001–2005 than in 1900–1955. However, papers which had titles containing one of these words did not receive enhanced numbers of citations. Both words (and also adjectives “unusual” and “unfortunately”) are used significantly more frequently in science than in social sciences and humanities. The distribution of the statements of surprise is not random in scientific literature (chemistry journals ranked highest in the number of papers claiming “surprising” or “unexpected” results) and may reflect the level of maturity of a discipline.

Suggested Citation

  • Michal Jasienski, 2009. "Garfield’s demon and “surprising” or “unexpected” results in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 78(2), pages 347-353, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:78:y:2009:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-007-1979-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1979-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Grant Lewison & James Hartley, 2005. "What's in a title? Numbers of words and the presence of colons," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 63(2), pages 341-356, April.
    2. Earl Danielson & Josh H. Golden & Eric W. McFarland & Casper M. Reaves & W. Henry Weinberg & Xin Di Wu, 1997. "A combinatorial approach to the discovery and optimization of luminescent materials," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6654), pages 944-948, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Valderrama-Zurian, J.C. & Melero-Fuentes, D. & Aleixandre-Benavent, R., 2019. "Origin, characteristics, predominance and conceptual networks of eponyms in the bibliometric literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 434-448.

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