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The boundary-spanning mechanisms of Nobel Prize winning papers

Authors :
Chaomei Chen
Yakub Sebastian
Source :
PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0254744 (2021), PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.

Abstract

The breakthrough potentials of research papers can be explained by their boundary-spanning qualities. Here, for the first time, we apply the structural variation analysis (SVA) model and its affiliated metrics to investigate the extent to which such qualities characterize a group of Nobel Prize winning papers. We find that these papers share remarkable boundary-spanning traits, marked by exceptional abilities to connect disparate and topically-diverse clusters of research papers. Further, their publications exert structural variations on the scale that significantly alters the betweenness centrality distributions of existing intellectual space. Overall, SVA not only provides a set of leading indicators for describing future Nobel Prize winning papers, but also broadens our understanding of the similar prize-winning properties that may have been overlooked among other regular publications.<br />27 pages, 8 figures, 9 tables. Submitted to Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19326203
Volume :
16
Issue :
8
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
PLoS ONE
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....c34921c080c5ac6092c08cb3e98175cf