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Rationales for Bradford's law

Abstract

Two models of the mechanism responsible for the distribution of scientific papers in an area over periodicals are given. Empirical distributions following Bradford's law are shown to agree quite closely with a lognormal distribution. This distribution arises, in one model, by taking the probability of a paper being published in a particular journal as the product of many independent factors. It can also arise, according to an alternative mechanism. by random subdivision of the papers in a field over the journals. The mechanisms are compared with other models in the literature.

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Karmeshu, Lind, N.C. & Cano, V. Rationales for Bradford's law. Scientometrics 6, 233–241 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02279358

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02279358

Keywords

  • Lognormal Distribution
  • Independent Factor
  • Empirical Distribution
  • Alternative Mechanism
  • Scientific Paper