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A longitudinal analysis of citation distribution breadth for Chinese scholars

Author

Listed:
  • Siluo Yang

    (Xiangtan University)

  • Feng Ma

    (Wuhan University)

  • Yanhui Song

    (Wuhan University)

  • Junping Qiu

    (Wuhan University)

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, the research behavior of Chinese scholars has continually evolved. This paper studied the citing behavior of Chinese scholars by employing three indicators of citation concentration from the perspective of citation breadth analysis. All the citations from 2,338,033 papers from the Chinese Citation Database (1979–2008) covering four disciplines—Chemistry; Clinical Medicine; Library, Information and Archival Science; and Chinese Literature and World Literature—were analyzed. Empirical results show a general weakening tendency towards citation concentration: (1) decreasing percentage of uncited published papers within a given year; (2) a higher percentage of papers required to account for the same proportion of citation than before; and (3) the steady decline in the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) of citation distribution. All three measures indicate a decline in citing concentration or an increase in citation breadth. This phenomenon may be the result of increased access to materials, perhaps because of the ease with which scholarly materials can be accessed through the Internet.

Suggested Citation

  • Siluo Yang & Feng Ma & Yanhui Song & Junping Qiu, 2010. "A longitudinal analysis of citation distribution breadth for Chinese scholars," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(3), pages 755-765, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:85:y:2010:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-010-0245-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0245-1
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    3. Ming-Chao Huang & Shih-Chieh Fang & Shao-Chi Chang, 2011. "Tracking R&D behavior: bibliometric analysis of drug patents in the Orange Book," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(3), pages 805-818, September.
    4. Chi, Pei-Shan, 2016. "Differing disciplinary citation concentration patterns of book and journal literature?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 814-829.
    5. Fang Lin, 2011. "A study on power-law distribution of hostnames in the URL references," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(1), pages 191-198, July.
    6. Richard S. J. Tol, 2012. "Shapley values for assessing research production and impact of schools and scholars," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(3), pages 763-780, March.
    7. Yuen-Hsien Tseng & Ming-Yueh Tsay, 2013. "Journal clustering of library and information science for subfield delineation using the bibliometric analysis toolkit: CATAR," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(2), pages 503-528, May.
    8. Parolo, Pietro Della Briotta & Pan, Raj Kumar & Ghosh, Rumi & Huberman, Bernardo A. & Kaski, Kimmo & Fortunato, Santo, 2015. "Attention decay in science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 734-745.
    9. Frode Eika Sandnes, 2021. "Everyone onboard? Participation ratios as a metric for research activity assessments within young universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 6105-6113, July.
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    11. Michel Grossetti & Denis Eckert & Yves Gingras & Laurent Jégou & Vincent Larivière & Béatrice Milard, 2014. "Cities and the geographical deconcentration of scientific activity: A multilevel analysis of publications (1987–2007)," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(10), pages 2219-2234, August.

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