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The Right Job and the Job Right: Novelty, Impact and Journal Stratification in Science

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  • Nicolas Carayol
  • Agenor Lahatte

Abstract

Though Science is traditionally associated with creative behavior, concerns have been raised on its professional procedures being suÿciently open to innovative re-search. Thanks to a new measurement of novelty based on the frequencies of pair-wise combinations of article keywords calculated on the set of all research articles published from 1999 to 2013 in the journals referenced by the WoS (more than ten million papers), we find no evidence of shrinking novelty in science over that pe-riod. Novel contributions are more often performed in larger teams that span more institutional boundaries and geographic areas. High novelty increases citations by more than forty percent and the odds of a “big hit” by about fifty percent. High novelty simultaneously reduces citational risk conditioned on being published to a large extent because it rises the odds of the problem remaining active in the future. As we document that novel papers match preferentially with top journals (even controlling for journal quality), the risk induced by novel research is more likely to materialize through the publication process.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Carayol & Agenor Lahatte, 2019. "The Right Job and the Job Right: Novelty, Impact and Journal Stratification in Science," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2019-05, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    • Handle: RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2019-05
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    File URL: http://cahiersdugretha.u-bordeaux.fr/2019/2019-05.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Charles Ayoubi & Michele Pezzoni & Fabiana Visentin, 2021. "Does It Pay to Do Novel Science? The Selectivity Patterns in Science Funding," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(5), pages 635-648.
    2. Yan Yan & Shanwu Tian & Jingjing Zhang, 2020. "The impact of a paper’s new combinations and new components on its citation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 895-913, February.
    3. Fontana, Magda & Iori, Martina & Montobbio, Fabio & Sinatra, Roberta, 2020. "New and atypical combinations: An assessment of novelty and interdisciplinarity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    4. Magda Fontana & Martina Iori & Fabio Montobbio & Roberta Sinatra, 2018. "A bridge over troubled water: Interdisciplinarity, Novelty, and Impact," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0002, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Novelty; Web of Science; Scientific Creativity; Journal Stratification; Science;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory

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