The Measurement of Low- and High-Impact in Citation Distributions: Technical Results

Journal of Informetrics 5 (2011) 122-145

17 Pages Posted: 26 Aug 2014

See all articles by Pedro Albarrán

Pedro Albarrán

Charles III University of Madrid

Ignacio Ortuno-Ortin

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics

Javier Ruiz-Castillo

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics; Universidad de Alicante

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel methodology for comparing the citation distributions of research units working in the same homogeneous field. Given a critical citation level (CCL), we suggest using two real valued indicators to describe the shape of any distribution: a high-impact and a low-impact measure defined over the set of articles with citations above or below the CCL. The key to this methodology is the identification of a citation distribution with an income distribution. Once this step is taken, it is easy to realize that the measurement of low-impact coincides with the measurement of economic poverty. In turn, it is equally natural to identify the measurement of high-impact with the measurement of a certain notion of economic affluence. On the other hand, it is seen that the ranking of citation distributions according to a family of low-impact measures is essentially characterized by a number of desirable axioms. Appropriately redefined, these same axioms lead to the selection of an equally convenient class of decomposable high-impact measures. These two families are shown to satisfy other interesting properties that make them potentially useful in empirical applications, including the comparison of research units working in different fields.

Suggested Citation

Albarrán, Pedro and Ortuno-Ortin, Ignacio and Ruiz-Castillo Ucelay, Javier, The Measurement of Low- and High-Impact in Citation Distributions: Technical Results (2014). Journal of Informetrics 5 (2011) 122-145, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2282649

Pedro Albarrán

Charles III University of Madrid ( email )

CL. de Madrid 126
Madrid, Madrid 28903
Spain

Ignacio Ortuno-Ortin

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics ( email )

Calle Madrid 126
Getafe, 28903
Spain

Javier Ruiz-Castillo Ucelay (Contact Author)

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics ( email )

Calle Madrid 126
Getafe, 28903
Spain
+ 34 916 249 588 (Phone)
+ 34 916 249 329 (Fax)

Universidad de Alicante

Campus de San Vicente
Carretera San Vicente del Raspeig
San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante 03690
Spain

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