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Distributional differences of the impact factor in the sciences versus the social sciences: An analysis of the probabilistic structure of the 2005 journal citation reports

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  • Stephen J. Bensman

Abstract

This paper examines the probability structure of the 2005 Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) Journal Citation Reports (JCR) by analyzing the Impact Factor distributions of their journals. The distribution of the SCI journals corresponded with a distribution generally modeled by the negative binomial distribution, whereas the SSCI distribution fit the Poisson distribution modeling random, rare events. Both Impact Factor distributions were positively skewed—the SCI much more so than the SSCI—indicating excess variance. One of the causes of this excess variance was that the journals highest in the Impact Factor in both JCRs tended to class in subject categories well funded by the National Institutes of Health. The main reason for the SCI Impact Factor distribution being more skewed than the SSCI one was that review journals defining disciplinary paradigms play a much more important role in the sciences than in the social sciences.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen J. Bensman, 2008. "Distributional differences of the impact factor in the sciences versus the social sciences: An analysis of the probabilistic structure of the 2005 journal citation reports," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(9), pages 1366-1382, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:59:y:2008:i:9:p:1366-1382
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.20810
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zeki Simsek & Ciaran Heavey & Justin J. P. Jansen, 2013. "Journal Impact as a Diffusion Process: A Conceptualization and the Case of the Journal of Management Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(8), pages 1374-1407, December.
    2. Iman Tahamtan & Askar Safipour Afshar & Khadijeh Ahamdzadeh, 2016. "Factors affecting number of citations: a comprehensive review of the literature," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1195-1225, June.
    3. Jerome K. Vanclay, 2012. "Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 211-238, August.
    4. Yan Yan & Shanwu Tian & Jingjing Zhang, 2020. "The impact of a paper’s new combinations and new components on its citation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 895-913, February.
    5. Huang, Ding-wei, 2017. "Impact factor distribution revisited," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 482(C), pages 173-180.
    6. Juan Miguel Campanario, 2010. "Distribution of changes in impact factors over time," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 35-42, July.
    7. Gualberto Buela-Casal & Izabela Zych, 2012. "What do the scientists think about the impact factor?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 281-292, August.
    8. Shanwu Tian & Xiurui Xu & Ping Li, 2021. "Acknowledgement network and citation count: the moderating role of collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7837-7857, September.
    9. Guan, Jiancheng & Yan, Yan & Zhang, Jing Jing, 2017. "The impact of collaboration and knowledge networks on citations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 407-422.
    10. Stephen J. Bensman, 2012. "The impact factor: its place in Garfield’s thought, in science evaluation, and in library collection management," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(2), pages 263-275, August.
    11. Stephen J. Bensman, 2011. "Anne-Wil Harzing: The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(1), pages 339-342, July.
    12. Lawrence Smolinsky & Aaron Lercher, 2012. "Citation rates in mathematics: a study of variation by subdiscipline," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(3), pages 911-924, June.
    13. Yan, Erjia & Ding, Ying & Cronin, Blaise & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2013. "A bird's-eye view of scientific trading: Dependency relations among fields of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 249-264.

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