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Landmark papers written by the Nobelists in physics from 1901 to 2012: a bibliometric analysis of their citations and journals

Author

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  • Zhiwei Zhou

    (Jinan University
    Jinan University)

  • Rui Xing

    (Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences)

  • Jing Liu

    (Jinan University School of Medicine)

  • Feiyue Xing

    (Jinan University
    Jinan University)

Abstract

We collected 382 landmark papers written by 193 Nobel Laureates in physics from 1901 to 2012 and used bibliometric methods, citation frequencies, impact factor (IF), and tendency of the landmark journals to analyze their contents. The results show: (1) Of landmark papers published during 1980–2009, 74.7 % were cited more than 500 times. Average citation frequencies and proportion of highly cited papers were higher for theoretic discoveries than for experimental methods. However, the proportion of highly cited papers in both domains was lower than for an invention. The average test period for the latter was markedly shorter too. (2) Landmark papers by Nobelists were mainly published in journals with IF from 5.0 to 10.0, but journals below IF 5.0 ranked first among all landmark journals. (3) As to countries where landmark papers were published, the Netherlands ranked at the top of the countries with the most landmark journals, besides the United States and England. In addition, the majority of landmark papers written by non-mainstream countries’ Nobelists were published in foreign journals with IF

Suggested Citation

  • Zhiwei Zhou & Rui Xing & Jing Liu & Feiyue Xing, 2014. "Landmark papers written by the Nobelists in physics from 1901 to 2012: a bibliometric analysis of their citations and journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 100(2), pages 329-338, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:100:y:2014:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1306-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1306-7
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    1. Julián D. Cortés & Daniel A. Andrade, 2022. "Winners and runners-up alike?—a comparison between awardees and special mention recipients of the most reputable science award in Colombia via a composite citation indicator," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Elisabeth Maria Schlagberger & Lutz Bornmann & Johann Bauer, 2016. "At what institutions did Nobel laureates do their prize-winning work? An analysis of biographical information on Nobel laureates from 1994 to 2014," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 723-767, November.
    3. John P A Ioannidis & Ioana-Alina Cristea & Kevin W Boyack, 2020. "Work honored by Nobel prizes clusters heavily in a few scientific fields," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, July.
    4. Thomas Heinze & Arlette Jappe & David Pithan, 2019. "From North American hegemony to global competition for scientific leadership? Insights from the Nobel population," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Pandelis Mitsis, 2022. "The Nobel Prize time gap," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Thomas Heinze & Joel Emanuel Fuchs, 2022. "National and organizational patterns of Nobel laureate careers in physiology/medicine, physics, and chemistry," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7273-7288, December.
    7. Bilal Barış Alkan & Leyla Karakuş & Bekir Direkci, 2023. "Knowledge discovery from the texts of Nobel Prize winners in literature: sentiment analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5311-5334, September.

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