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Origin, characteristics, predominance and conceptual networks of eponyms in the bibliometric literature

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  • Valderrama-Zurian, J.C.
  • Melero-Fuentes, D.
  • Aleixandre-Benavent, R.

Abstract

Eponyms are very common in some scientific fields, and they are a fundamental part of the language and historical culture of researchers, as many people have given their names to procedures, laws, formulas, tests, hypotheses, diseases and numerous processes. Despite being etymologically empty terms, some of these names are so deeply rooted that it would be very difficult to do without them. In this paper, 2313 eponyms are analysed from 16,787 bibliometric documents indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database. A total of 187 eponyms were identified, most of which belong to the areas of information science, statistics and economics. The most frequent eponyms were Hirsch (325), Lotka (214), Bradford (186), Price (146), Egghe (76), Garfield (74) and Zipf (59). Among the most frequent eponyms, the most contemporary, Hirsch and Egghe, were referenced in the same year they were incorporated into the scientific literature. All conceptual networks have the term bibliometrics as their core, except the Hirsch network, in which the term h-index is more central. Currently, the debate continues in the scientific literature, with arguments for and against the use of eponyms.

Suggested Citation

  • Valderrama-Zurian, J.C. & Melero-Fuentes, D. & Aleixandre-Benavent, R., 2019. "Origin, characteristics, predominance and conceptual networks of eponyms in the bibliometric literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 434-448.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:434-448
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2019.02.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Katherine W. McCain, 2011. "Eponymy and Obliteration by Incorporation: The case of the “Nash Equilibrium”," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(7), pages 1412-1424, July.
    2. Michal Jasienski, 2009. "Garfield’s demon and “surprising” or “unexpected” results in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 78(2), pages 347-353, February.
    3. Peter Vinkler, 2018. "Structure of the scientific research and science policy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 737-756, February.
    4. Guillaume Cabanac, 2014. "Extracting and quantifying eponyms in full-text articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1631-1645, March.
    5. Diana Hicks & Paul Wouters & Ludo Waltman & Sarah de Rijcke & Ismael Rafols, 2015. "Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics," Nature, Nature, vol. 520(7548), pages 429-431, April.
    6. Katherine W. McCain, 2011. "Eponymy and Obliteration by Incorporation: The case of the “Nash Equilibrium”," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(7), pages 1412-1424, July.
    7. Juan Gorraiz & Christian Gumpenberger & Martin Wieland, 2011. "Galton 2011 revisited: a bibliometric journey in the footprints of a universal genius," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(2), pages 627-652, August.
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    2. András Schubert & Wolfgang Glänzel & Gábor Schubert, 2022. "Eponyms in science: famed or framed?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(3), pages 1199-1207, March.

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