Habits of publication and citation by scientific field: Main differences based on JCR journals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2013.4.1003Keywords:
Citation, impact factor, journal evaluation, JCR journal categories, citation habitsAbstract
Journals’ impact indicators are not comparable among scientific fields because of systematic differences in publication and citation habits. In this work, the impact factor was decomposed into five independent variables, as applied to journal category, fields, and areas considered in the databases of the leading provider of science indicators, Thomson Reuters. A Principal Component Analysis was employed to find the sources of the variance and a Cluster Analysis was used to detect similarities. In spite of systematic differences between disciplines, the principal components explain 78% of the total variance. From the statistical point of view, some categories of Science are closer to the Social Sciences than to Science and vice versa.
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