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Lotka's law reconsidered: The evolution of publication and citation distributions in scientific fields

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Abstract

This paper reports early steps in research that seeks to clarify how publications of scientists interact dynamically with citations and reputation in shaping the evolution of scientific fields. We assume that Lotka's modified law holds for scientific fields. A primary approach to model publication productivity was published by Yablonsky. In contrast to Yablonsky's unfinished mathematical approach, our simulation approach is not predominantly driven by insight into the formal generation mechanisms of certain processes but more theory driven. It considers the evolution of publication and citation distributions over the histories of scientific fields using both simulated and real historical data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Soziologie, Universität München, Konradstr. 6, D-80801, München, (Germany)

    Nicole J. Saam

  2. Universitätsklinik für Tiefenpsychologie und Psychotherapie Wien, Universität Wien, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090, Wien, (Austria)

    L. Reiter

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  1. Nicole J. Saam
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  2. L. Reiter
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Saam, N.J., Reiter, L. Lotka's law reconsidered: The evolution of publication and citation distributions in scientific fields. Scientometrics 44, 135–155 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02457376

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02457376

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