Number and quality of diagrams in scholarly publications is associated with number of citations

TL;DR

This study finds that the inclusion and quality of diagrams in scholarly papers, especially system diagrams, are associated with higher citation counts, highlighting the importance of effective visual communication in academic impact.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence linking diagram use and quality to citation counts, emphasizing the role of diagramming practices in scholarly communication.

Findings

System diagrams correlate with higher citations

Excessive diagrams (>3) correlate with lower citations

Good diagramming practice aligns with highly cited papers

Abstract

Diagrams are often used in scholarly communication. We analyse a corpus of diagrams found in scholarly computational linguistics conference proceedings (ACL 2017), and find inclusion of a system diagram to be correlated with higher numbers of citations after 3 years. Inclusion of over three diagrams in this 8-page limit conference was found to correlate with a lower citation count. Focusing on neural network system diagrams, we find a correlation between highly cited papers and "good diagramming practice" quantified by level of compliance with a set of diagramming guidelines. Two diagram classification types (one visually based, one mental model based) were not found to correlate with number of citations, but enabled quantification of heterogeneity in those dimensions. Exploring scholarly paper-writing guides, we find diagrams to be a neglected media. This study suggests that diagrams may be a useful source of quality data for predicting citations, and that "graphicacy" is a key skill for scholars with insufficient support at present.