Uncited papers are not useless.
Golosovsky, M. et Larivière, V. (2021). Uncited papers are not useless. Quantitative Science Studies, 2(3), 899-911.
Golosovsky, M. et Larivière, V. (2021). Uncited papers are not useless. Quantitative Science Studies, 2(3), 899-911.
We study the citation dynamics of the papers published in three scientific disciplines (Physics, Economics, and Mathematics) and four broad scientific categories (Medical, Natural, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities). We measure the uncitedness ratio, namely, the fraction of uncited papers in these data sets and its dependence on the time following publication. These measurements are compared with a model of citation dynamics that considers acquiring citations as an inhomogeneous Poisson process. The model captures the fraction of uncited papers in our collections fairly well, suggesting that uncitedness is an inevitable consequence of the Poisson statistics.
This content has been updated on November 24th, 2021 at 11 h 46 min.