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How can revivals of scientific publications be explained using bibliometric methods? A case study discovering booster papers for the 1985 Physics Nobel Prize paper

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Haunschild

    (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

  • Werner Marx

    (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

  • Jürgen Weis

    (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

Abstract

The unusual citation profile of the 1985 Physics Nobel Prize paper has been analyzed. The number of citing papers per year exhibits a maximum of 123 citations in the mid-1980s and increases to more than 200 citations about two decades later. The publication set of the citing papers was analyzed in terms of co-authorships and research topics. The USA and (more recently) the People’s Republic of China appear prominently among the countries of the citing authors. A keyword analysis of the citing papers revealed research dealing with topological insulators as one of the major newly evolving research topics. An analysis of the co-cited papers has been performed via reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS). The most-frequently co-cited papers (the peak papers of the RPYS spectrogram) were identified and discussed. As a result, we found two primary booster papers and three secondary booster papers that renewed the interest in the 1985 Physics Nobel Prize paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Haunschild & Werner Marx & Jürgen Weis, 2024. "How can revivals of scientific publications be explained using bibliometric methods? A case study discovering booster papers for the 1985 Physics Nobel Prize paper," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(2), pages 1079-1095, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:129:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-023-04906-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-023-04906-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    4. 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.
    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. 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.
    7. Robin Haunschild & Werner Marx, 2020. "Discovering seminal works with marker papers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2955-2969, December.
    8. Lutz Bornmann & Robin Haunschild & Loet Leydesdorff, 2018. "Reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS) of Eugene Garfield’s publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 439-448, February.
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