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Gaining scientific recognition by position: Does editorship increase citation rates?

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  • Lydia L. Lange

    (Max Planck Institute for Human Development)

  • P. A. Frensch

    (Max Planck Institute for Human Development)

Abstract

We investigated three rival hypotheses concerning scientific communication and recognition: the performance hypothesis and two alternative assumptions, the reputation hypothesis and the resource hypothesis. The performance hypothesis reflects the norm of universalism in the sense given byMerton, the reputation hypothesis predicts a Matthew Effect (scientists receive communications and recognition on the basis of their reputation), and the resource hypothesis assumes that communication with other scientitis is used as a form of asset to defend one's own research results. Using bibliometric methods, we assessed whether assuming an important scientific position enhances scientific impact and prestige. Specifically, we explored whether a person's assumption of editorship responsibilities of a psychology journal increases the frequency with which that person is cited in theSocial Sciences Citation Index. The data base consisted of ten psychology journals, seven premier American and three German journals, covering the years 1981 to 1995. Citation rates for the years prior to, during, and following periods of editorship were compared for three groups: editors cited in the journal they edited, editors cited in a journal they did not edit, and non-editors. The results showed that during their editorship, editors showed an increased citation rate in the journal edited; this result was found for American journals, but not for German journals. These findings indicate that, for American journals, assuming editorship responsibilities for a major psychology journal increases one's scientific impact, at least as reflected by a measure of citation rate. A careful examination of ages of the non-editors' citations reveals that the post-editorship citation rates of editors and comparable non-editors do not differ significantly. The reputation hypothesis (Matthew Effect) is therefore preferred for interpreting the results, because it shows the cumulative nature of prestige-oriented citations. The results contradict the convention of using citation rates as pure performance measures.

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  • Lydia L. Lange & P. A. Frensch, 1999. "Gaining scientific recognition by position: Does editorship increase citation rates?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 44(3), pages 459-486, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:44:y:1999:i:3:d:10.1007_bf02458490
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02458490
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. MaryEllen Sievert & Mary Haughawout, 1989. "An editor's influence on citation patterns: A case study of Elementary School Journal," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 40(5), pages 334-341, September.
    2. Juan Miguel Campanario, 1996. "The competition for journal space among referees, editors, and other authors and its influence on journals' impact factors," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 47(3), pages 184-192, March.
    3. Norman Kaplan, 1965. "The norms of citation behavior: Prolegomena to the footnote," American Documentation, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 179-184, July.
    4. Scott Smart & Joel Waldfogel, 1996. "A Citation-Based Test for Discrimination at Economics and Finance Journals," NBER Working Papers 5460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Allen Bellas & Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2019. "Which leading journal leads? Idea diffusion in economics research journals," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 901-921, September.
    3. Júlio Cesar Rodrigues Pereira & André Luiz Fischer & Maria Mercedes Loureiro Escuder, 2000. "Driving Factors of High Performance in Brazilian Management Sciences for the 1981–1995 Period," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 49(2), pages 307-319, October.
    4. Jinyoung Kim & Kanghyock Koh, 2014. "Incentives for Journal Editors," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(1), pages 348-371, February.
    5. Tol, Richard S.J., 2013. "The Matthew effect for cohorts of economists," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 522-527.
    6. Alberto Baccini & Lucio Barabesi, 2010. "Interlocking editorship. A network analysis of the links between economic journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 365-389, February.
    7. Emre Sarigöl & David Garcia & Ingo Scholtes & Frank Schweitzer, 2017. "Quantifying the effect of editor–author relations on manuscript handling times," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(1), pages 609-631, October.

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