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Competition amongst scientists for publication status:Toward a model of scientific publication and citation distributions

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  • Anthony F. J. Van Raan

    (University of Leiden)

Abstract

We present a model in which scientists compete with each other in order to acquire status fortheir publications in a two-step-process: first, to get their work published in better journals, andsecond, to get this work cited in these journals. On the basis of two Maxwell-Boltzmann typedistribution functions of source publications we derive a distribution function of citingpublications over source publications. This distribution function corresponds very well to theempirical data. In contrast to all observations so far, we conclude that this distribution of citationsover publications, which is a crucial phenomenon in scientometrics, is not a power law, but amodified Bessel-function.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony F. J. Van Raan, 2001. "Competition amongst scientists for publication status:Toward a model of scientific publication and citation distributions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 347-357, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:51:y:2001:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1010501820393
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1010501820393
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Per O. Seglen, 1992. "The skewness of science," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 43(9), pages 628-638, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bouyssou, Denis & Marchant, Thierry, 2011. "Bibliometric rankings of journals based on Impact Factors: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 75-86.
    2. Rafael Aleixandre & Juan Carlos Valderrama & José María Desantes & Antonio J. Torregrosa, 2004. "Identification of information sources and citation patterns in the field of reciprocating internal combustion engines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 59(3), pages 321-336, March.
    3. Magnus Eriksson & Annika Billhult & Tommy Billhult & Elena Pallari & Grant Lewison, 2020. "A new database of the references on international clinical practice guidelines: a facility for the evaluation of clinical research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 1221-1235, February.
    4. Giancarlo Ruocco & Cinzia Daraio, 2013. "An empirical approach to compare the performance of heterogeneous academic fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(3), pages 601-625, December.
    5. Michel Zitt, 2012. "The journal impact factor: angel, devil, or scapegoat? A comment on J.K. Vanclay’s article 2011," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 485-503, August.
    6. Tol, Richard S.J., 2013. "The Matthew effect for cohorts of economists," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 522-527.
    7. van Raan, Anthony F.J., 2001. "Two-step competition process leads to quasi power-law income distributions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 298(3), pages 530-536.
    8. Bar-Ilan, Judit, 2008. "Informetrics at the beginning of the 21st century—A review," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-52.

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