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2015 ; 112
(24
): 7426-31
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Defining and identifying Sleeping Beauties in science
#MMPMID26015563
Ke Q
; Ferrara E
; Radicchi F
; Flammini A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
2015[Jun]; 112
(24
): 7426-31
PMID26015563
show ga
A Sleeping Beauty (SB) in science refers to a paper whose importance is not
recognized for several years after publication. Its citation history exhibits a
long hibernation period followed by a sudden spike of popularity. Previous
studies suggest a relative scarcity of SBs. The reliability of this conclusion
is, however, heavily dependent on identification methods based on arbitrary
threshold parameters for sleeping time and number of citations, applied to small
or monodisciplinary bibliographic datasets. Here we present a systematic,
large-scale, and multidisciplinary analysis of the SB phenomenon in science. We
introduce a parameter-free measure that quantifies the extent to which a specific
paper can be considered an SB. We apply our method to 22 million scientific
papers published in all disciplines of natural and social sciences over a time
span longer than a century. Our results reveal that the SB phenomenon is not
exceptional. There is a continuous spectrum of delayed recognition where both the
hibernation period and the awakening intensity are taken into account. Although
many cases of SBs can be identified by looking at monodisciplinary bibliographic
data, the SB phenomenon becomes much more apparent with the analysis of
multidisciplinary datasets, where we can observe many examples of papers
achieving delayed yet exceptional importance in disciplines different from those
where they were originally published. Our analysis emphasizes a complex feature
of citation dynamics that so far has received little attention, and also provides
empirical evidence against the use of short-term citation metrics in the
quantification of scientific impact.