2019/01/28 by Yi Bu, Ludo Waltman, Bu, Yi +3
Decision Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Digital Libraries (cs.DL) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #scientometrics and bibliometrics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1901.09663
openalex publication_date 2019/01/28 · openalex created_date 2019/11/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The citation impact of a scientific publication is usually seen as a one-dimensional concept. We introduce a multi-dimensional framework for characterizing the citation impact of a publication. In addition to the level of citation impact, quantified by the number of citations received by a publication, we also conceptualize and operationalize the depth and breadth and the dependence and independence of the citation impact of a publication. The proposed framework distinguishes between publications that have a deep citation impact, typically in a relatively narrow research area, and publications that have a broad citation impact, probably covering a wider area of research. It also makes a distinction between publications that are strongly dependent on earlier work and publications that make a more independent scientific contribution. We use our multi-dimensional citation impact framework to report basic descriptive statistics on the citation impact of highly cited publications in all scientific disciplines. In addition, we present a detailed case study focusing on the field of scientometrics. The proposed citation impact framework provides a more in-depth understanding of the citation impact of a publication than a traditional one-dimensional perspective.