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Citation patterns in little science and big science

Abstract

The classification of citations by their context, previously formulated and used for other studies, is employed here to see if the citation patterns of big and little science are different or not. Theoretical physics articles in 1935 and 1955 are thus compared. No significant differences were found except in the number of references per article which increased significantly from 1935 to 1955, and again to 1968. It is found, however, that the German journal Zeitschrift für Physik has considerably higher percentages of conceptual, organic, and evolutionary citations, both in 1935 and in 1955, than The Physical Review. The interpretation of this difference remains unclear.

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Shearer, E., Moravscik, M.J. Citation patterns in little science and big science. Scientometrics 1, 463–474 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016662

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016662

Keywords

  • Theoretical Physic
  • Physical Review
  • Citation Pattern
  • German Journal
  • Physic Article