Distribution of Co-Author Pairs’ Frequencies of the Journal of Biological Chemistry Explained as Social Gestalt

Abstract

In single authored bibliographies only single scientist distribution can be found. Wheras in multi-authored bibliographies single scientists distribution, pairs distribution, triples distribution, etc., can be presented. Whith regard to Lotka’s law single scientists P distribution (both in single authored and in multi-authored bibliographies) is of interest. In the future pairs P,Q distribution, triples P,Q,R distribution, etc. should be considered. Starting with pair distribution, the question arises: Is there any regularity or well-ordered structure for the distribution of co-author pairs in the journals on the analogy to Lotka’s law for the distribution of single authors? Usually, “laws” or “regularities” in information science (for example Lotka’s law) have their mathematical descriptions of observed the data in form of functions. The explanations of these phenomena are, however, mostly missing. By contrast, the derivation of a formula for describing the distribution of the number of co-author pairs is presented on the basis of well-known regularities in socio-psychology or sociology in conjunction with Gestalt theory, as an explanation for well-ordered collaboration structures and production of scientific literature. The assumed regularities for the distribution of co-author pairs in journals could be shown in the co-authorship data (1980–1998) of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.