Affiliation:
1. École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information Université de Montréal Montréal QC Canada
2. Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark
3. Observatoire des sciences et des technologies, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal QC Canada
Abstract
AbstractEmpirical evidence demonstrates that citations received by scholarly publications follow a pattern of preferential attachment, resulting in a power‐law distribution. Such asymmetry has sparked significant debate regarding the use of citations for research evaluation. However, a consensus has yet to be established concerning the historical trends in citation concentration. Are citations becoming more concentrated in a small number of articles? Or have recent geopolitical and technical changes in science led to more decentralized distributions? This ongoing debate stems from a lack of technical clarity in measuring inequality. Given the variations in citation practices across disciplines and over time, it is crucial to account for multiple factors that can influence the findings. This article explores how reference‐based and citation‐based approaches, uncited articles, citation inflation, the expansion of bibliometric databases, disciplinary differences, and self‐citations affect the evolution of citation concentration. Our results indicate a decreasing trend in citation concentration, primarily driven by a decline in uncited articles, which, in turn, can be attributed to the growing significance of Asia and Europe. On the whole, our findings clarify current debates on citation concentration and show that, contrary to a widely‐held belief, citations are increasingly scattered.
Subject
Library and Information Sciences,Information Systems and Management,Computer Networks and Communications,Information Systems
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献