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Be known by the company you keep: Citations — quality or chance?

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  • John Hudson

    (The University of Bath)

Abstract

We examine the determinants of five year citations to papers published in the American Economic Review and the Economic Journal. Citations are positively related to page length and position in the journal. Both of these variables are consistent with the hypothesis that citations reflect paper quality, as is the number of subsequent self-citations. However, the publication of a major paper, as judged by subsequent citations, significantly increases the citations of other papers in an issue and this indicates the importance of chance in determining citations.

Suggested Citation

  • John Hudson, 2007. "Be known by the company you keep: Citations — quality or chance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 71(2), pages 231-238, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:71:y:2007:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-007-1671-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-1671-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lindsey E. Wylie & Katherine P. Hazen & Lori A. Hoetger & Joshua A. Haby & Eve M. Brank, 2018. "Four decades of the journal Law and Human Behavior: a content analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 655-693, May.
    2. Feng Guo & Chao Ma & Qingling Shi & Qingqing Zong, 2018. "Succinct effect or informative effect: the relationship between title length and the number of citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1531-1539, September.
    3. Maarten Wesel & Sally Wyatt & Jeroen Haaf, 2014. "What a difference a colon makes: how superficial factors influence subsequent citation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1601-1615, March.
    4. Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha, 2020. "A meta-analysis study of the relationship between research and economic development in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 655-675, May.
    5. Andrew J. Oswald, 2010. "A suggested method for the measurement of world-leading research (illustrated with data on economics)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 99-113, July.
    6. Dessauer, Benedict & Emrich, Eike & Klein, Markus & Pierdzioch, Christian, 2013. "Zur Evaluation wissenschaftlicher Publikationsleistungen in der Sportwissenschaft," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 3, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.
    7. Syed Hasan & Robert Breunig, 2021. "Article length and citation outcomes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7583-7608, September.
    8. Michael S. Patterson & Simon Harris, 2009. "The relationship between reviewers’ quality-scores and number of citations for papers published in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology from 2003–2005," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 343-349, August.
    9. Jinyoung Kim & Kanghyock Koh, 2014. "Incentives for Journal Editors," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(1), pages 348-371, February.
    10. Peter A Todd, 2009. "Ambiguity, Bias, and Compromise: An Abc of Bibliometric-Based Performance Indicators," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(4), pages 765-771, April.
    11. Leila Tahmooresnejad & Catherine Beaudry & Andrea Schiffauerova, 2015. "The role of public funding in nanotechnology scientific production: Where Canada stands in comparison to the United States," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 753-787, January.
    12. Nick Haslam & Lauren Ban & Leah Kaufmann & Stephen Loughnan & Kim Peters & Jennifer Whelan & Sam Wilson, 2008. "What makes an article influential? Predicting impact in social and personality psychology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 76(1), pages 169-185, July.
    13. Jost Sieweke & Johannes Muck & Stefan Süß & Justus Haucap, 2014. "Forschungsevaluation an Universitäten — Ergebnisse einer explorativen Studie rechtsund wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Fakultäten," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 66(4), pages 274-305, June.
    14. Oswald, Andrew J., 2009. "World-Leading Research and its Measurement," Economic Research Papers 271312, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    15. Rolf Ketzler & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2013. "A citation-analysis of economic research institutes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(3), pages 1095-1112, June.
    16. Ho Fai Chan & Malka Guillot & Lionel Page & Benno Torgler, 2015. "The inner quality of an article: Will time tell?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 19-41, July.
    17. Rosenstreich, Daniela & Wooliscroft, Ben, 2009. "Measuring the impact of accounting journals using Google Scholar and the g-index," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 227-239.

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