Egghe, L. "The source-item coverage of the Lotka function " SCIENTOMETRICS 61 (1). 2004. p.103-115

[Eugene Garfield]

Leo Egghe : leo.egghe at luc.ac.be

TITLE:          The source-item coverage of the Lotka function (Article,
                English)

AUTHOR:         Egghe, L

SOURCE:         SCIENTOMETRICS 61 (1). 2004. p.103-115 KLUWER ACADEMIC
                PUBL, DORDRECHT


ABSTRACT:       The following problem has never been studied : Given A,
the total number of items (e.g. articles) and T, the total number of
sources (e.g. journals that contain these articles) (hence A>T), when is
there a Lotka function f(j) = D/j(alpha)

that represents this situation (i.e. where to) denotes the density of the
sources in the item-density j)? And, if it exists, what are the formulae
for D and alpha? This problem is solved in both cases with j is an
element of [1, rho]: where (a) rho = infinity and where (b) rho < &INFIN;
. Note that p = the maximum density of the items. If ρ = &INFIN;,
then A and T determine uniquely D and α. If ρ < infinity, then
we have, for every alpha less than or equal to 2, a solution for D and
rho, hence for f. If rho < &INFIN; and α > 2 then we show that a
solution exists if and only if

mu = A/T < α-1/α-2.

This sheds some light on the source-item coverage power of Lotka's law.

AUTHOR ADDRESS: L Egghe, Limburgs Univ Ctr, Univ Campus, B-3590 Diepenbeek,
                Belgium
(IDS: 844RQ 00008)  ISSN: 0138-9130