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Tsallis q-exponential describes the distribution of scientific citations—a new characterization of the impact

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Abstract

In this work we have studied the research activity for countries of Europe, Latin America and Africa for all sciences between 1945 and November 2008. All the data are captured from the Web of Science database during this period. The analysis of the experimental data shows that, within a nonextensive thermostatistical formalism, the Tsallis q-exponential distribution N(c) satisfactorily describes Institute of Scientific Information citations. The data which are examined in the present survey can be fitted successfully as a first approach by applying a single curve (namely, \(N(c) \propto 1/[1+(q-1)\, c/T]^{\frac{1} {q-1}}\) with q ≃ 4/3 for all the available citations c, T being an “effective temperature”. The present analysis ultimately suggests that the phenomenon might essentially be one and the same along the entire range of the citation number. Finally, this manuscript provides a new ranking index, via the “effective temperature” T, for the impact level of the research activity in these countries, taking into account the number of the publications and their citations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor C.Tsallis, S. Thurner, R. Hanel and D. Kalamatianos for helpful discussions and the support from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, the State of Rio de Janeiro Research Foundation (FAPERJ), the Brazilian Coordination Office for the Improvement of Staff with Higher Education (CAPES) and the National Institute of Science and Technology for Complex Systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Patras, Rio Achaia, Greece

    Aristoklis D. Anastasiadis

  2. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Aristoklis D. Anastasiadis, Marcelo P. de Albuquerque, Marcio P. de Albuquerque & Diogo B. Mussi

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  1. Aristoklis D. Anastasiadis
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  2. Marcelo P. de Albuquerque
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Correspondence to Aristoklis D. Anastasiadis.

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Anastasiadis, A.D., de Albuquerque, M.P., de Albuquerque, M.P. et al. Tsallis q-exponential describes the distribution of scientific citations—a new characterization of the impact. Scientometrics 83, 205–218 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0023-0

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