Lucio-Arias, D; Leydesdorff, L Main-path analysis and path-dependent transitions in HistCite (TM)-based historiograms JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 59 (12): 1948-1962 OCT 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: D.P.LucioArias at uva.nl; loet at leydesdorff.net 

Author(s): Lucio-Arias, D (Lucio-Arias, Diana); Leydesdorff, L 
(Leydesdorff, Loet)

Title: Main-path analysis and path-dependent transitions in HistCite (TM)-
based historiograms 

Source: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND 
TECHNOLOGY, 59 (12): 1948-1962 OCT 2008

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Keywords Plus: CITATION; KNOWLEDGE; SCIENCE; COMMUNICATION; SYSTEM 

Abstract: With the program HistCite (TM) it is possible to generate and 
visualize the most relevant papers in a set of documents retrieved from 
the Science Citation Index. Historical reconstructions of scientific 
developments can be represented chronologically as developments in 
networks of citation relations extracted from scientific literature. This 
study aims to go beyond the historical reconstruction of scientific 
knowledge, enriching the output of HistCite (TM) with algorithms from 
social-network analysis and information theory. Using main-path analysis, 
it is possible to highlight the structural backbone in the development of 
a scientific field. The expected information value of the message can be 
used to indicate whether change in the distribution (of citations) has 
occurred to such an extent that a path-dependency is generated. This 
provides us with a measure of evolutionary change between subsequent 
documents. The "forgetting and rewriting" of historically prior events at 
the research front can thus be indicated. These three methods-HistCite, 
main path and path dependent transitions-are applied to a set of documents 
related to fullerenes and the fullerene-like structures known as 
nanotubes. 

Addresses: [Lucio-Arias, Diana; Leydesdorff, Loet] Univ Amsterdam, ASCoR, 
NL-1012 CX Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Reprint Address: Lucio-Arias, D, Univ Amsterdam, ASCoR, Kloveniersburgwal 
48, NL-1012 CX Amsterdam, Netherlands.
 
E-mail Address: D.P.LucioArias at uva.nl; loet at leydesdorff.net 

Cited Reference Count: 42 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS INC 

Publisher Address: 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030 USA 

ISSN: 1532-2882 

DOI: 10.1002/asi.20903 

29-char Source Abbrev.: J AM SOC INF SCI TECHNOL 

ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 

Source Item Page Count: 15 

Subject Category: Computer Science, Information Systems; Information 
Science & Library Science 

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