Abstract
In science, sleeping beauties (SBs) denotes a special phenomenon of the diffusion of scientific knowledge based on citation trajectories, the awakening of which is also measured through changes in the citations index. However, the rapid advancement of social media has altered the mode of scientific communication and knowledge diffusion. This study aims to re-identify SBs and its Prince from the perspective of comprehensive indicators, which involves the analysis of Altmetrics indexes and Citation index, and investigate the awakening mechanism of A-SB to supplement the research on the awakening mechanism of SBs. By combining Ab index, we redefined the Prince, which makes A-SB receive high attention after a long Sleeping period and reflects the most prominent academic or social behavior that awakens and sustains the Awakening of A-SB. Then we conducted empirical research on the retrieved PLOS Biology collection and examined Prince after identifying the A-SB. The analysis and summary of the characteristics of the identified A-SB and Prince revealed the SBs’ awakening mechanism under the comprehensive trajectory based on Altmetrics from the three dimensions of the influence between the indicators, the overall evolution trajectory of A-SB, and literature bibliometric attributes. In the trajectory of Delayed Recognition stage of A-SB, we define the Dogsleep of SBs, which mirrors that the instability of the Sleeping of SBs will generate a specific negative impact on Prince of A-SB and Awakening intensity. Besides, the literature bibliometric attributes cannot reflect the tendency of users to read academic papers, which again proves that the traditional citation index cannot be neglected in the awakening mechanism of A-SB. Overall, this study demonstrates the addition of the Altmetrics indexes as a useful complement, illustrating the inheritance and connection between the SBs based on the comprehensive trajectory and the SBs based on the citation diffusion trajectory.
Highlights
Van Raan referred to the phenomenon that scientific literature was not cited for a prolonged time after publication (“Sleeping”) and suddenly received numerous citations (“Awakened by Prince”) as “Scientific Sleeping Beauty” (SBs) [1]
This study extends sleeping beauties (SBs) from a research perspective based on citation indicator diffusion trajectory to a comprehensive evolution trajectory research based on Altmetrics indexes
The research identified its Prince based on the recognition of Altmetrics-based Sleeping Beauty (A-SB), explored the specific reasons for the Awakening of A-SB, and excavated awakening mechanism of A-SB from the three dimensions of the influence between the indicators, the overall evolution trajectory of A-SB, and literature bibliometric attributes, making the SBs and identification of its Prince more accord with the actual diffusion and evolution of the scientific literature
Summary
Van Raan referred to the phenomenon that scientific literature was not cited for a prolonged time after publication (“Sleeping”) and suddenly received numerous citations (“Awakened by Prince”) as “Scientific Sleeping Beauty” (SBs) [1]. Li & Ye proposed “All-Elements Scientific Sleeping Beauty” to supplement the concept discussed above [2]. From the perspective of citation network, SBs is essentially a distinct phenomenon of the diffusion of scientific knowledge based on citation trajectories, which reveals a crucial mechanism for the diffusion of scientific information through citations [3], and is indispensable for scientific development [7,8]. We refer to the SBs under this perspective as Citation-based Sleeping Beauty (C-SB)
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