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Forgetting and the Ageing of Scientific Publications

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  • Thijs Pollman

    (Utrecht University)

Abstract

In this paper, I will argue that the process of ageing in scientific publications on the one hand, and the process of obsolescence and forgetting to which all kinds of phenomena, people and events are exposed on the other, develop with the same speed. Whereas in the literature on the subject it is stated that the speed of the ageing of scientific literature is exponential, it is shown that the decay from 'age 4' is best described by an inverse function, as was already brought to light in reference to forgetting of people and events as measured by the frequencies of calendar years in large text corpora. The empirical bases are SCI data as presented by Nakamoto and various files of reference data collected by the author. It is shown that the decay curve of the reference frequencies from 'age 4' backwards is independent of time.

Suggested Citation

  • Thijs Pollman, 2000. "Forgetting and the Ageing of Scientific Publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 47(1), pages 43-54, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:47:y:2000:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1005613725039
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1005613725039
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodrigo Costas & Thed N. Leeuwen & Anthony F. J. Raan, 2011. "The “Mendel syndrome” in science: durability of scientific literature and its effects on bibliometric analysis of individual scientists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(1), pages 177-205, October.
    2. S. R. Goldberg & H. Anthony & T. S. Evans, 2015. "Modelling citation networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1577-1604, December.
    3. Anthony G. Stacey, 2021. "Ages of cited references and growth of scientific knowledge: an explication of the gamma distribution in business and management disciplines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 619-640, January.
    4. Yin, Yian & Wang, Dashun, 2017. "The time dimension of science: Connecting the past to the future," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 608-621.
    5. Parolo, Pietro Della Briotta & Pan, Raj Kumar & Ghosh, Rumi & Huberman, Bernardo A. & Kaski, Kimmo & Fortunato, Santo, 2015. "Attention decay in science," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 734-745.

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