Topology and the Web of Twentieth Century Science

TL;DR

This paper presents a physical model of scientific communication based on a large-scale analysis of citations, revealing a universal structure that changed around 1960, reflecting shifts in communication and transportation methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel physical model for scientific communication derived from an informetric analysis of millions of papers and citations, highlighting a universal and evolving internal structure.

Findings

Identifies a universal internal structure in scientific development.

Shows a qualitative change in citation patterns around 1960.

Uses analogies with glass relaxation to model communication patterns.

Abstract

Scientific communication is an essential part of modern science: whereas Archimedes worked alone, Newton (1676) acknowledged that "If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." How is scientific communication reflected in the patterns of citations in scientific papers? How have these patterns changed in the 20th century, as both means of communication and individual transportation changed rapidly, compared to the earlier post-Newton 18th and 19th centuries? Here we discuss a physical model for scientific communications, based on an informetric study of 25 million papers and 600 million citations; the physical model itself relies on analogies with glass relaxation, where virtually identical patterns have been identified in 50 well designed experiments. The model reveals a surprisingly universal internal structure in the development of scientific research, which is essentially constant across the natural sciences, but which changed qualitatively around 1960.