IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v102y2015i3d10.1007_s11192-014-1465-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Philosophy of science viewed through the lense of “Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy” (RPYS)

Author

Listed:
  • K. Brad Wray

    (State University of New York, Oswego)

  • Lutz Bornmann

    (Administrative Headquarters of the Max Planck Society)

Abstract

We examine the sub-field of philosophy of science using a new method developed in information science, Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy (RPYS). RPYS allows us to identify peak years in citations in a field, which promises to help scholars identify the key contributions to a field, and revolutionary discoveries in a field. We discovered that philosophy of science, a sub-field in the humanities, differs significantly from other fields examined with this method. Books play a more important role in philosophy of science than in the sciences. Further, Einstein’s famous 1905 papers created a citation peak in the philosophy of science literature. But rather than being a contribution to the philosophy of science, their importance lies in the fact that they are revolutionary contributions to physics with important implications for philosophy of science.

Suggested Citation

  • K. Brad Wray & Lutz Bornmann, 2015. "Philosophy of science viewed through the lense of “Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy” (RPYS)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(3), pages 1987-1996, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:102:y:2015:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1465-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-014-1465-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-014-1465-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-014-1465-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eugene Garfield, 1963. "Citation indexes in sociological and historical research," American Documentation, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 289-291, October.
    2. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann & Andreas Barth & Loet Leydesdorff, 2014. "Detecting the historical roots of research fields by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(4), pages 751-764, April.
    3. Kevin W. Boyack & Richard Klavans, 2010. "Co‐citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation: Which citation approach represents the research front most accurately?," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(12), pages 2389-2404, December.
    4. Anthony F. J. van Raan, 2000. "On Growth, Ageing, and Fractal Differentiation of Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 47(2), pages 347-362, February.
    5. Eugene Garfield & A. I. Pudovkin & V. S. Istomin, 2003. "Why do we need algorithmic historiography?," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 54(5), pages 400-412, March.
    6. Kevin W. Boyack & Richard Klavans, 2010. "Co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation: Which citation approach represents the research front most accurately?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(12), pages 2389-2404, December.
    7. Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner, 2013. "The proposal of a broadening of perspective in evaluative bibliometrics by complementing the times cited with a cited reference analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 84-88.
    8. Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner & Milojević, Staša, 2014. "Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy applied to iMetrics: Scientometrics, Journal of Informetrics, and a relevant subset of JASIST," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 162-174.
    9. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann, 2014. "Tracing the origin of a scientific legend by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS): the legend of the Darwin finches," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 839-844, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Comins, Jordan A. & Carmack, Stephanie A. & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2018. "Patent citation spectroscopy (PCS): Online retrieval of landmark patents based on an algorithmic approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1223-1231.
    2. John McLevey & Alexander V. Graham & Reid McIlroy-Young & Pierson Browne & Kathryn S. Plaisance, 2018. "Interdisciplinarity and insularity in the diffusion of knowledge: an analysis of disciplinary boundaries between philosophy of science and the sciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(1), pages 331-349, October.
    3. Lutz Bornmann & K. Brad Wray & Robin Haunschild, 2020. "Citation concept analysis (CCA): a new form of citation analysis revealing the usefulness of concepts for other researchers illustrated by exemplary case studies including classic books by Thomas S. K," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 1051-1074, February.
    4. Günter Krampen & Peter Weiland & Jürgen Wiesenhütter, 2015. "Citation success of different publication types: a case study on all references in psychology publications from the German-speaking countries (D–A–CH–L–L) in 2009, 2010, and 2011," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 827-840, September.
    5. Xin Li & Qiang Yao & Xuli Tang & Qian Li & Mengjia Wu, 2020. "How to investigate the historical roots and evolution of research fields in China? A case study on iMetrics using RootCite," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1253-1274, November.
    6. Eugenio Petrovich, 2018. "Accumulation of knowledge in para-scientific areas: the case of analytic philosophy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 1123-1151, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Werner Marx & Lutz Bornmann, 2016. "Change of perspective: bibliometrics from the point of view of cited references—a literature overview on approaches to the evaluation of cited references in bibliometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 1397-1415, November.
    2. Jianhua Hou, 2017. "Exploration into the evolution and historical roots of citation analysis by referenced publication year spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1437-1452, March.
    3. Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann & Werner Marx & Rüdiger Mutz, 2018. "Identifying single influential publications in a research field: new analysis opportunities of the CRExplorer," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 591-608, July.
    4. McLevey, John & McIlroy-Young, Reid, 2017. "Introducing metaknowledge: Software for computational research in information science, network analysis, and science of science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 176-197.
    5. Thor, Andreas & Marx, Werner & Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz, 2016. "Introducing CitedReferencesExplorer (CRExplorer): A program for reference publication year spectroscopy with cited references standardization," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 503-515.
    6. Jianhua Hou & Xiucai Yang & Yang Zhang, 2023. "The effect of social media knowledge cascade: an analysis of scientific papers diffusion," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5169-5195, September.
    7. Ludo Waltman & Nees Jan Eck, 2012. "A new methodology for constructing a publication-level classification system of science," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(12), pages 2378-2392, December.
    8. Michel Zitt, 2015. "Meso-level retrieval: IR-bibliometrics interplay and hybrid citation-words methods in scientific fields delineation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(3), pages 2223-2245, March.
    9. Xin Li & Qiang Yao & Xuli Tang & Qian Li & Mengjia Wu, 2020. "How to investigate the historical roots and evolution of research fields in China? A case study on iMetrics using RootCite," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1253-1274, November.
    10. Chao Zhang & Jiancheng Guan, 2017. "How to identify metaknowledge trends and features in a certain research field? Evidences from innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 1177-1197, November.
    11. Chen, Kaihua & Zhang, Yi & Fu, Xiaolan, 2019. "International research collaboration: An emerging domain of innovation studies?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 149-168.
    12. Lutz Bornmann & Rüdiger Mutz, 2015. "Growth rates of modern science: A bibliometric analysis based on the number of publications and cited references," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(11), pages 2215-2222, November.
    13. Ratinho, Tiago & Bruneel, Johan, 2024. "Taking stock of research on hybrid organizations: Enriching theoretical perspectives, extending empirical contexts, and expanding practical relevance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    14. Arash Najmaei & Zahra Sadeghinejad, 2023. "Green and sustainable business models: historical roots, growth trajectory, conceptual architecture and an agenda for future research—A bibliometric review of green and sustainable business models," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(2), pages 957-999, February.
    15. Sohrabi, Babak & Khalilijafarabad, Ahmad, 2018. "Systematic method for finding emergence research areas as data quality," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 280-287.
    16. Leydesdorff, Loet & Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner & Milojević, Staša, 2014. "Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy applied to iMetrics: Scientometrics, Journal of Informetrics, and a relevant subset of JASIST," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 162-174.
    17. Werner Marx & Robin Haunschild & Andreas Thor & Lutz Bornmann, 2017. "Which early works are cited most frequently in climate change research literature? A bibliometric approach based on Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(1), pages 335-353, January.
    18. Rons, Nadine, 2018. "Bibliometric approximation of a scientific specialty by combining key sources, title words, authors and references," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 113-132.
    19. Jordan A. Comins & Loet Leydesdorff, 2017. "Citation algorithms for identifying research milestones driving biomedical innovation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1495-1504, March.
    20. Comins, Jordan A. & Hussey, Thomas W., 2015. "Compressing multiple scales of impact detection by Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 449-454.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:102:y:2015:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-014-1465-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.