Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Lost in citation: Vanishing visibility of senior authors

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The senior author is usually last on the byline of scientific publications, yet generally has made the second most important contribution. The explosion in author number per scientific paper, has necessitated limits on the number of authors allowed in cited references, frequently resulting in senior author truncation. Would potential visibility gained from citations in top-tier journals be offset by senior author omission? We found evidence for this in a sample of 208 journals, showing significant associations between author limits in cited references and various measures of journal quality. These associations, however, differed among biological science, physical science, and interdisciplinary journals.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amin, M., Mabe, M. (2000), Impact factors: Use and abuse. Perspectives in Publishing, 1: 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, D. M., Taylor, D. M. (2003), Unethical practices in authorship of scientific papers. Emergency Medicine, 15: 263–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhandari, M., Busse, J. W., Kulkarni, A. V., Devereaux, P. J., Leece, P., Guyatt, G. H. (2004), Interpreting authorship order and corresponding authorship. Epidemiology, 15: 125–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burman, K. D. (1982), Hanging from the masthead? Reflections on authorship. Annals of Internal Medicine, 97: 602–605.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conover, W. J., Iman, R. L. (1981), Rank transformation as a bridge between parametric and nonparametric statistics. The American Statistician, 35: 124–129.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Drenth, J. P. H. (1998), Multiple authorship: The contribution of senior authors. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280: 219–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, R. J. (1993), Six authors in search of a citation: villains or victims of the Vancouver convention? British Medical Journal, 306: 765–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfield, E. (2006), The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. Journal of the American Medical Association, 295: 90–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoeffel, C. (1998), Journal impact factors. Allergy, 53: 1225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute for Scientific Information, (2004), Journal Citation Reports, Science Edition, http://portal.isiknowledge.com Accessed October, 2004.

  • ISI Web of Science (2004), Crowd control? Multiauthor papers appear to level off in recent years. Science Watch, 15(4): 1–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1993), Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Journal of the American Medical Association, 269: 2282–2286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, D. (2003), Multiple authors, multiple problems. Science, 301: 733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monastersky, R. (2005), The number that’s devouring science. Chronicle of Higher Education, 52: A12–A17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, M. E. J. (2004), Coauthorship networks and patterns of scientific collaboration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 101: 5200–5205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peffers, K., Hui, W. (2003), Collaboration and author order: Changing patterns in IS research. Communications of AIS, 11: 2–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reisenberg, D., Lundberg, G. D. (1990), The order of authorship: Who’s on first? Journal of the American Medical Association, 264: 1857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rennie, D., Yank, V., Emanuel, L. (1997), When authorship fails: A proposal to make contributors accountable, Journal of the American Medical Association, 278: 579–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savitz, D. A. (1999), What can we infer from author order in epidemiology? American Journal of Epidemiology, 149: 401–403.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, D. W., Wenger, N. S., Shapiro, M. F. (1994), The contributions of authors to multiauthored biomedical research papers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271: 438–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Serials Directory (2004), EBSCO, Birmingham, AL.

  • Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory (2004), RR Bowker, New York, NY.

  • Weeks, W. B., Wallace, A. E., Kimberly, B. C. S. (2004), Changes in authorship patterns in prestigious US medical journals. Social Science and Medicine, 59: 1949–1954.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, W. H., Jr. (1957), The Organization Man, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Gertrude Case Buehring

  2. Department of Library and Information Science, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA

    Jessica E. Buehring

  3. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Experimental Statistics Unit, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA

    Patrick D. Gerard

Authors
  1. Gertrude Case Buehring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jessica E. Buehring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Patrick D. Gerard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gertrude Case Buehring.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buehring, G.C., Buehring, J.E. & Gerard, P.D. Lost in citation: Vanishing visibility of senior authors. Scientometrics 72, 459–468 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1762-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1762-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation