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

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Jacob B. Slyder & Brent S. Sams

  2. Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Beth R. Stein, David M. Walker, B. Jacob Beale, Jeffrey J. Feldhaus & Carolyn A. Copenheaver

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  1. Jacob B. Slyder
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  2. Beth R. Stein
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  3. Brent S. Sams
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  4. David M. Walker
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  5. B. Jacob Beale
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  6. Jeffrey J. Feldhaus
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  7. Carolyn A. Copenheaver
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Correspondence to Carolyn A. Copenheaver.

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Slyder, J.B., Stein, B.R., Sams, B.S. et al. Citation pattern and lifespan: a comparison of discipline, institution, and individual. Scientometrics 89, 955–966 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-011-0467-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-011-0467-x

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