Research infrastructures in the LHC era: a scientometric approach

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the scientific impact of major physics research infrastructures like the LHC through publication and citation metrics, comparing different experiments and highlighting trends over time.

Contribution

It introduces a scientometric approach to quantify and compare the scientific output of large research infrastructures, offering a foundation for modeling knowledge propagation.

Findings

LHC experiments produce significant publication and citation outputs.

Remarkable project results influence publication and citation trends.

The work provides a methodological basis for future theoretical models.

Abstract

When a research infrastructure is funded and implemented, new information and new publications are created. This new information is the measurable output of discovery process. In this paper, we describe the impact of infrastructure for physics experiments in terms of publications and citations. In particular, we consider the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments (ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb) and compare them to the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP) experiments (ALEPH, DELPHI, L3, OPAL) and the Tevatron experiments (CDF, D0). We provide an overview of the scientific output of these projects over time and highlight the role played by remarkable project results in the publication-citation distribution trends. The methodological and technical contribution of this work provides a starting point for the development of a theoretical model of modern scientific knowledge propagation over time.