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The distribution of the uncitedness factor and its functional relation with the impact factor (2008)

Abstract
The uncitedness factor of a journal is its fraction of uncited articles. Given a set of journals (e.g. in a field) we can determine the rank-order distribution of these uncitedness factors. Hereby we use the Central Limit Theorem which is valid for uncitedness factors since it are fractions, hence averages. A similar result was proved earlier for the impact factors of a set of journals. Here we combine the two rank-order distributions, hereby eliminating the rank, yielding the functional relation between the impact factor and the uncitedness factor. It is proved that the decreasing relation has an S-shape: first convex, then concave and that the inflection point is in the point where is the average of the impact factors and (',μμμ'μ is the average of the uncitedness factors.

Publication details
Download http://hdl.handle.net/1942/8490
Repository Document Server@UHasselt (Belgium)
Type Article - unpublished, Article
Language English