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Comparison of citations and attention of cover and non-cover papers

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  • Kong, Ling
  • Wang, Dongbo

Abstract

Exploring the differences between the academic and social impacts of journal cover and non-cover papers is crucial for evaluating scientific research. We compared the differences in citations and Altmetric scores between cover and non-cover papers published in Nature. Six dimensions were considered: coverage, annual geometric mean and median, interval distribution, correlation coefficient, impact significance, and subject terms. We analysed the citations of 1,266 cover and 10,241 non-cover papers from 2006 to 2015 and the characteristics of the Altmetric scores and interdisciplinary subjects of 503 cover and 5,361 non-cover papers from 2011 to 2015. The results of our empirical study demonstrate that the citations and Altmetric scores of cover papers are significantly higher than those of non-cover papers, though a smaller difference was observed in more recent years. The Spearman correlation coefficients of the citations with Altmetric scores and several subdivision indices of cover papers were higher than those of non-cover papers in more recent years. Furthermore, the degree of influence of cover papers on citations and Altmetric scores was higher than that of non-cover papers. In biological sciences, physical sciences, and other interdisciplinary subjects, the degree of interdisciplinarity between highly cited and high-Altmetric-score cover papers was relatively high.

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  • Kong, Ling & Wang, Dongbo, 2020. "Comparison of citations and attention of cover and non-cover papers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:14:y:2020:i:4:s1751157719305048
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2020.101095
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    Cited by:

    1. Yezhu Wang & Yundong Xie & Dong Wang & Lu Guo & Rongting Zhou, 2022. "Do cover papers get better citations and usage counts? An analysis of 42 journals in cell biology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3793-3813, July.
    2. Battiston, Pietro & Sacco, Pier Luigi & Stanca, Luca, 2022. "Cover effects on citations uncovered: Evidence from Nature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    3. Wenjie Wei & Hongxu Liu & Zhuanlan Sun, 2022. "Cover papers of top journals are reliable source for emerging topics detection: a machine learning based prediction framework," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4315-4333, August.
    4. Ryo Takahashi & Kenji Kaibe & Kazuyuki Suzuki & Sayaka Takahashi & Kotaro Takeda & Marc Hansen & Michiaki Yumoto, 2023. "New concept of the affinity between research fields using academic journal data in Scopus," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3507-3534, June.

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