Credit where credit's due: Accounting for co-authorship in citation counts

Arbeitspapier

I propose a new method (Pareto weights) to objectively attribute citations to co-authors. Previous methods either profess ignorance about the seniority of co-authors (egalitarian weights) or are based in an ad hoc way on the order of authors (rank weights). Pareto weights are based on the respective citation records of the co-authors. Pareto weights are proportional to the probability of observing the number of citations obtained. Assuming a Pareto distribution, such weights can be computed with a simple, closed-form equation but require a few iterations and data on a scholar, her co-authors, and her co-authors' co-authors. The use of Pareto weights is illustrated with a group of prominent economists. In this case, Pareto weights are very different from rank weights. Pareto weights are more similar to egalitarian weights but can deviate up to a quarter in either direction (for reasons that are intuitive).

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ESRI Working Paper ; No. 387

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: citations ; co-authors ; Pareto distribution

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Tol, Richard S.J.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
• (where): Dublin
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/50131
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET