On the evolution and utility of annual citation indices

TL;DR

This paper analyzes citation patterns of top journals, revealing a universal distribution of the annual citation rate and examining the implications of different citation metrics on journal influence and editorial policies.

Contribution

It introduces the annual citation rate as a new measure and uncovers its universal distribution across disciplines and rankings.

Findings

The annual citation rate distribution peaks at half the average rate.

It fits well to a log-Gumbel distribution.

The study discusses the impact factor's influence on authors and editorial decisions.

Abstract

We study the statistics of citations made to the top ranked indexed journals for Science and Social Science databases in the Journal Citation Reports using different measures. Total annual citation and impact factor, as well as a third measure called the annual citation rate are used to make the detailed analysis. We observe that the distribution of the annual citation rate has an universal feature - it shows a maximum at the rate scaled by half the average, irrespective of how the journals are ranked, and even across Science and Social Science journals, and fits well to log-Gumbel distribution. Correlations between different quantities are studied and a comparative analysis of the three measures is presented. The newly introduced annual citation rate factor helps in understanding the effect of scaling the number of citation by the total number of publications. The effect of the impact factor on authors contributing to the journals as well as on editorial policies is also discussed.