Philosophy of science viewed through the lense of "References Publication Years spectrosopy" (RPYS)

TL;DR

This paper applies a novel bibliometric method, RPYS, to analyze the philosophy of science, revealing its unique citation patterns and the significance of Einstein's 1905 papers as revolutionary physics contributions impacting philosophical discourse.

Contribution

It introduces RPYS as a new approach to studying philosophy of science and uncovers its distinctive citation dynamics and the role of books and key historical papers.

Findings

Books are more influential in philosophy of science than in other fields.

Einstein's 1905 papers create a citation peak, indicating their revolutionary impact.

Philosophy of science differs from sciences in citation patterns and influential works.

Abstract

We examine the sub-field of philosophy of science using a new method developed in information science, Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy (RPYS). RPYS allows us to identify peak years in citations in a field, which promises to help scholars identify the key contributions to a field, and revolutionary discoveries in a field. We discovered that philosophy of science, a sub-field in the humanities, differs significantly from other fields examined with this method. Books play a more important role in philosophy of science than in the sciences. Further, Einstein's famous 1905 papers created a citation peak in the philosophy of science literature. But rather than being a contribution to the philosophy of science, their importance lies in the fact that they are revolutionary contributions to physics with important implications for philosophy of science.