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Citation pattern and lifespan: a comparison of discipline, institution, and individual

Author

Listed:
  • Jacob B. Slyder

    (Virginia Tech)

  • Beth R. Stein

    (Virginia Tech)

  • Brent S. Sams

    (Virginia Tech)

  • David M. Walker

    (Virginia Tech)

  • B. Jacob Beale

    (Virginia Tech)

  • Jeffrey J. Feldhaus

    (Virginia Tech)

  • Carolyn A. Copenheaver

    (Virginia Tech)

Abstract

Citation frequency is often used in hiring and tenure decisions as an indicator of the quality of a researcher’s publications. In this paper, we examine the influence of discipline, institution, journal impact factor, length of article, number of authors, seniority of author, and gender on citation rate of top-cited papers for academic faculty in geography and forestry departments. Self-citation practices and patterns of citation frequency across post-publication lifespan were also examined. Citation rates of the most-highly cited paper for all tenured forestry (N = 122) and geography (N = 91) faculty at Auburn University, Michigan State University, Northern Arizona University, Oklahoma State University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, University of Florida, University of Massachusetts, University of Washington, and Virginia Tech were compared. Foresters received significantly more citations than geographers (t = 2.46, P = 0.02) and more senior authors received more citations than junior researchers (r 2 = 0.14, P = 0.03). Articles published in journals with higher impact factors also received more citations (r 2 = 0.28, P = 0.00). The median self-citation rate was 10% and there was no temporal pattern to the frequency of citations received by an individual article (x 2 = 176). Our results stress the importance of only comparing citation rates within a given discipline and confirm the importance of author-seniority and journal rankings as factors that influence citation rate of a given article.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob B. Slyder & Beth R. Stein & Brent S. Sams & David M. Walker & B. Jacob Beale & Jeffrey J. Feldhaus & Carolyn A. Copenheaver, 2011. "Citation pattern and lifespan: a comparison of discipline, institution, and individual," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(3), pages 955-966, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:89:y:2011:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0467-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0467-x
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    9. Jerome K. Vanclay & Lutz Bornmann, 2012. "Metrics to evaluate research performance in academic institutions: a critique of ERA 2010 as applied in forestry and the indirect H2 index as a possible alternative," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(3), pages 751-771, June.
    10. Nikolaos A. Kazakis, 2015. "The research activity of the current faculty of the Greek chemical engineering departments: a bibliometric study in national and international context," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(1), pages 229-250, April.
    11. Hajar Sotudeh & Nahid Khoshian, 2014. "Gender differences in science: the case of scientific productivity in Nano Science & Technology during 2005–2007," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 457-472, January.
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    14. József Popp & Péter Balogh & Judit Oláh & Sebastian Kot & Mónika Harangi Rákos & Péter Lengyel, 2018. "Social Network Analysis of Scientific Articles Published by Food Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, February.
    15. Harsh Gupta & Mason A. Porter, 2020. "Mixed Logit Models and Network Formation," Papers 2006.16516, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    16. Wullum Nielsen, Mathias & Börjeson, Love, 2019. "Gender diversity in the management field: Does it matter for research outcomes?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1617-1632.
    17. Yu, Dejian & Pan, Tianxing, 2021. "Tracing the main path of interdisciplinary research considering citation preference: A case from blockchain domain," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2).
    18. Bruce A. Desmarais & John A. Hird, 2014. "Public policy's bibliography: The use of research in US regulatory impact analyses," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), pages 497-510, December.
    19. Juan Xie & Kaile Gong & Ying Cheng & Qing Ke, 2019. "The correlation between paper length and citations: a meta-analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 763-786, March.
    20. Reingewertz, Yaniv & Lutmar, Carmela, 2018. "Academic in-group bias: An empirical examination of the link between author and journal affiliation," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 74-86.
    21. Abdullah, Azrul Bin & Waemustafa, Waeibrorheem & Isa, Hamdan Mat, 2018. "Disclosure of Information in Company’s Annual Reports: A Bibliometric Analysis," SocArXiv emrt4, Center for Open Science.
    22. Frandsen, Tove Faber & Jacobsen, Rasmus Højbjerg & Wallin, Johan A. & Brixen, Kim & Ousager, Jakob, 2015. "Gender differences in scientific performance: A bibliometric matching analysis of Danish health sciences Graduates," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 1007-1017.
    23. Tahmooresnejad, Leila & Turkina, Ekaterina, 2022. "Female inventors over time: Factors affecting female Inventors’ innovation performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    24. Abdullah, Azrul & Waemustafa, Waeibrorheem & Mat Isa, Hamdan, 2017. "Disclosure of Information in Company’s Annual Reports: A Bibliometric Analysis," MPRA Paper 92008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. Yunxue Cui & Yongzhen Wang & Xiaozhong Liu & Xianwen Wang & Xuhong Zhang, 2023. "Multidimensional scholarly citations: Characterizing and understanding scholars' citation behaviors," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(1), pages 115-127, January.

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