IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pia/review/v9y2018i2n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Citation Timing: A Framework and Examples

Author

Listed:
  • David Anderson
  • John Tressler

Abstract

The literature on research evaluation has noted important differences in citation time patterns between disciplines, high and low ranked journals and types of publications. Delays in the receipt of citations suggest that the diffusion of knowledge following discovery is slower and given the passage of time the research contribution may be less valuable. This paper provides a framework for the comparison of different citation time patterns. Using principles drawn from the literature on stochastic dominance we show that comparisons of time patterns can be based on very general characteristics of cost of delay functions. When a particular function is used to represent the cost of delay, the magnitude of the impact of differences in citation time patterns can be assessed using simple exponential discounting. We demonstrate the application of this framework in assessing different citation time patterns by applying it to comparisons of 10-year citation records for: leading journals in economics, different business subject areas, journals in economics compared with those in neuroscience and the research output of individual economists.

Suggested Citation

  • David Anderson & John Tressler, 2018. "The Impact of Citation Timing: A Framework and Examples," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 9(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:pia:review:v:9:y:2018:i:2:n:2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rei.unipg.it/rei/article/view/259
    Download Restriction: Requires registration. Users must be registered and log in to access full text
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Zimmermann, 2013. "Academic Rankings with RePEc," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-32, December.
    2. Davies, James & Hoy, Michael, 1995. "Making Inequality Comparisons When Lorenz Curves Intersect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 980-986, September.
    3. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    4. Sah, Raaj Kumar & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1986. "The Architecture of Economic Systems: Hierarchies and Polyarchies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 716-727, September.
    5. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D: The Depreciation Problem," NBER Chapters, in: Contributions in Memory of Zvi Griliches, pages 341-381, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Kalervo Järvelin & Olle Persson, 2008. "Erratum re: “The DCI‐index: Discounted cumulated impact‐based research evaluation”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(9), 1433‐1440," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(14), pages 2350-2352, December.
    7. Jeong-Yoo Kim & Insik Min & Christian Zimmermann, 2011. "The Economics of Citation," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 27, pages 93-114.
    8. repec:adr:anecst:y:2005:i:79-80:p:14 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Hadar, Josef & Russell, William R, 1969. "Rules for Ordering Uncertain Prospects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 25-34, March.
    10. John Tressler & David L. Anderson, 2012. "Citations as a Measure of the Research Outputs of New Zealand's Economics Departments: The Problem of 'Long and Variable Lags'," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 19(1), pages 17-40.
    11. Stephan B. Bruns & David I. Stern, 2016. "Research assessment using early citation information," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 917-935, August.
    12. Aditi Mehta & Marc Rysman & Tim Simcoe, 2006. "Identifying the Age Profile of Patent Citations," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2006-022, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    13. Aditi Mehta & Marc Rysman & Tim Simcoe, 2010. "Identifying the age profile of patent citations: new estimates of knowledge diffusion," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 1179-1204, November/.
    14. Derek Bosworth & Elizabeth Webster (ed.), 2006. "The Management of Intellectual Property," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 3649.
    15. David I Stern, 2014. "High-Ranked Social Science Journal Articles Can Be Identified from Early Citation Information," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-11, November.
    16. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "Increasing risk: I. A definition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 225-243, September.
    17. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2016. "Citation-Capture Rates for Economics Journals: Do they Differ from Other Disciplines and Does it Matter?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(1), pages 73-85, March.
    18. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2008. "Research Output in New Zealand Economics Department 2000-2006," Working Papers in Economics 08/05, University of Waikato.
    19. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2014. "Citation-Capture Rates by Economic Journals:Do they Differ from Other Disciplines and Does it Matter?," Working Papers in Economics 14/10, University of Waikato.
    20. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    21. Jaana Rahko, 2014. "Market value of R&D, patents, and organizational capital: Finnish evidence," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 353-377, June.
    22. Martin Ravallion & Adam Wagstaff, 2011. "On measuring scholarly influence by citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(1), pages 321-337, July.
    23. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers, 2007. "Meeting Strangers and Friends of Friends: How Random Are Social Networks?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 890-915, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2017. "Researcher rank stability across alternative output measurement schemes in the context of a time limited research evaluation: the New Zealand case," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(45), pages 4542-4553, September.
    2. Rolf Aaberge, 2009. "Ranking intersecting Lorenz curves," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 33(2), pages 235-259, August.
    3. Rolf Aaberge, 2003. "Mean-Spread-Preserving Transformations," Discussion Papers 360, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    4. Syed Hasan & Robert Breunig, 2021. "Article length and citation outcomes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7583-7608, September.
    5. W. Henry Chiu, 2021. "Intersecting Lorenz curves and aversion to inverse downside inequality," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(3), pages 487-508, April.
    6. Francesco Andreoli & Claudio Zoli, 2020. "From unidimensional to multidimensional inequality: a review," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 78(1), pages 5-42, April.
    7. Christian Kleiber & Walter Kraemer, 2000. "Efficiency, Equity, and Generalized Lorenz Dominance," CESifo Working Paper Series 343, CESifo.
    8. Moti Michaeli, 2021. "On Measuring Welfare ‘Behind a Veil of Ignorance’," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(1), pages 57-66, January.
    9. Ufuk Akcigit & William R. Kerr, 2018. "Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1374-1443.
    10. Jordi Caballe & Joan Esteban, 2007. "Stochastic Dominance and Absolute Risk Aversion," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 28(1), pages 89-110, January.
    11. Nicolas CARAYOL & Agenor LAHATTE, 2014. "Dominance relations and ranking when quantity and quality both matter: Applications to US universities and econ. departments worldwide," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2014-14, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    12. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2015. "Are Researcher Rankings Stable Across Alternative Output Measurement Schemes in the Context of a Time Limited Research Evaluation? The New Zealand Case," Working Papers in Economics 15/10, University of Waikato.
    13. O. Stark & S. Yitzhaki, 1988. "Merging populations, stochastic dominance and Lorenz curves," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 157-161, October.
    14. Kaplanski, Guy & Kroll, Yoram, 2002. "VaR Risk Measures versus Traditional Risk Measures: an Analysis and Survey," MPRA Paper 80070, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Levy, Moshe, 2009. "Almost Stochastic Dominance and stocks for the long run," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(1), pages 250-257, April.
    16. Coes, Donald V., 2008. "Income distribution trends in Brazil and China: Evaluating absolute and relative economic growth," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 359-369, May.
    17. Andersson, David E. & Ekman, Anton & Huila, Anton & Tell, Fredrik, 2023. "Industrial design rights and the market value of firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    18. Ramses H. Abul Naga, 2005. "Social Welfare Orderings: A Life‐Cycle Perspective," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(287), pages 497-514, August.
    19. Nicolas CARAYOL & Agenor LAHATTE, 2011. "Dominance relations when both quantity and quality matter, and applications to the\r\ncomparison of US research universities and worldwide top departments in economics," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2011-22, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    20. Amiel, Yoram & Cowell, Frank, 2001. "Risk and inequality perceptions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2058, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informal economy; citations; citation time patterns; discounting citations; research measurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A19 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Other
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pia:review:v:9:y:2018:i:2:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ubaldo Pizzoli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deperit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.