Skip to main content
Log in

Are uncited papers necessarily all nonimpact papers? A quantitative analysis

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In traditional research, the application of quantitative measurement on the value and influence of uncited papers is not feasible owing to the lack of data. The rapid advancement of social media has offered a new path for the dissemination of scientific papers and gain influence. In this thesis, the uncited papers published during 2006–2014 with a 5-year window on PLOS ONE journals from the Web of Science core collection was selected. A measurement model was built for the influence of uncited papers on social media dimension based on its Discussed, Saved, and Viewed data to explore the dynamic evolution track of the influence and determine the patterns of interaction. We found that uncited papers have a universal and significant influence on social media platforms. Besides, the evolution pattern of influence of the uncited papers can be illustrated by the layer-to-layer aggregation model of “document properties → three indicators → influence” Overall, the findings of this thesis are referential to the quantitative measurement of the influence of uncited papers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant 17BGL031.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianhua Hou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hou, J., Ye, J. Are uncited papers necessarily all nonimpact papers? A quantitative analysis. Scientometrics 124, 1631–1662 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03539-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03539-w

Keywords

Navigation