Lotka’s Law and authorship distribution in Computer Science using Web of Science (WoS) during 1986–2009

Abstract

This paper examines the conformity of Lotka’s Law to authorship distribution in the field of computer science using Web of Science (WoS) during 1986–2009. Totally, 19,150 articles in Computer Science produced by 45,713 authors, was compiled for analysis. Lotka’s Law was tested using both generalized and modified forms by using the formula: xny = c, the values of the exponent n and the constant c were computed; and Kolmogorov-Smimov (K-S) goodness-of-fit test were applied. The results suggested that author productivity distribution predicted in “Lotka’s generalized inverse square law” didn’t conform to Computer Science. Outputs while, the modified Lotka’s Law by Pao, was confirmed to the discipline. The main elements involved in fitting in a bibliometrics method have been identified: Lotka’s original inverse square law or modified method, subject area, period of time, measurement of authors, testing a criterion for assessing goodness-of-fit.