Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!utegc!utai!gh From: gh@utai.UUCP Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.research Subject: Re: How many people read an average research paper? Message-ID: <2683@utai.UUCP> Date: Sun, 9-Nov-86 11:43:08 EST Article-I.D.: utai.2683 Posted: Sun Nov 9 11:43:08 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Nov-86 14:35:04 EST References: <7966@watdaisy.UUCP> <2483@phri.UUCP> Reply-To: gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) Distribution: sci Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto Lines: 27 Keywords: Science Citation Index, Eugene Garfield Summary: An article is cited 1.7 times on average In article <7966@watdaisy.UUCP> jkpachl@watdaisy.UUCP (Jan Pachl) writes: >> Other related questions (e.g. "how many research papers quote >> an average research paper?") are much easier to formulate >> precisely (and to answer), but they are not as interesting. In article <2483@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: > Actually, this question has in fact been answered. > [blurb on Science Citation Index, but not The Answer!] ISI found long ago that in any given year, the ratio of the number of citations they processed to the number of articles they processed was between 1.65 and 1.7. Fewer than 25% of all articles published are cited more than 10 times by other articles. See Eugene Garfield's article in /Current Contents/, 9 Feb 1976 (reprinted in his /Essays of an Information Scientist/, vol 2.) Garfield has also reported on the question that started this discussion, how many people read the average article (excluding the writer, editor, referees, typesetter, etc). The number was amazingly small; unfortunately, I have been unable to find the reference. Perhaps with this clue someone else may succeed. Finally, let me commend Roy for his blurb on the Science Citation Index. Although it is well-known and used in the hard sciences, fewer people in the computing and mathematical sciences (whom I assume are a large slab of the readers of these groups) seem to know of it or use it; a great pity! -- \\\\ Graeme Hirst University of Toronto Computer Science Department //// utcsri!utai!gh / gh@ai.toronto.edu / 416-978-8747