On the relationship between download and citation counts: An introduction of Granger-causality inference

Studies on the relationship between the numbers of citations and downloads of scientific publications is beneficial for understanding the mechanism of citation patterns and research evaluation. However, seldom studies have considered directionality issues between downloads and citations or adopted a case-by-case time lag length between the download and citation time series of each individual publication. In this paper, we introduce the Granger-causal inference strategy to study the directionality between downloads and citations and set up the length of time lag between the time series for each case. By researching the publications on the Lancet, we find that publications have various directionality patterns, but highly cited publications tend to feature greater possibilities to have Granger causality. We apply a step-by-step manner to introduce the Granger-causal inference method to information science as four steps, namely conducting stationarity tests, determining time lag between time series, establishing cointegration test, and implementing Granger-causality inference. We hope that this method can be applied by future information scientists in their own research contexts.     

On the relation between the degree of internationalization of cited and citing publications: A field level analysis,including and excluding self-citations

The growing complexity of scientific challenges demands increasingly intense research collaboration, both domestic and international. The resulting trend affects not only the modes of producing new knowledge, but also the way it is disseminated within scientific communities. This paper analyses the relationship between the “degree of internationalization” of a country’s scientific production and that of the relevant citing publications. The empirical analysis is based on 2010-2012 Italian publications. Findings show: i) the probability of being cited increases with the degree of internationalization of the research team; ii) totally domestic research teams tend to cite to a greater extent totally domestic publications; iii) vice versa, publications resulting from international collaborations tend to be more cited by totally foreign publications rather than by publications including domestic authors. These results emerge both at overall and at discipline level. Findings might inform research policies geared towards internationalization.     

学术文献的文体特征及其检索意义—计算机科学文献与相关新闻报道文体的比较研究

计算机科学学术文献具有独特的文体特征,且部分特征能够用于计算机科学网络中文学术文献的自动识别与检索,提高计算机科学学术文献的相对检准率。本文通过建立计算机学术文献语料库与IT新闻语料库,对计算机科学学术文献和IT新闻在特有表述、平均句长、中西文比例三方面的文体特征进行提取与加权,应用于基于百度的网络中文学术检索系统(NSIRS)中。结果显示,本研究提取并设定的文体特征能有效提高NSIRS对计算机科学学术文献的检索效率,从而证明发掘并应用特定学科文献独特的文体特征的意义。图2。表4。参考文献14。