History: Great myths die hard

Dufour, Héloïse D.; Carroll, Sean B.

doi:10.1038/502032a

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 3 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…Since the answer has already been given by an expert of the theory of evolution [7][8], we can verify the RPYS method and will show that the roots of a legend (here the "Darwin finches") can also be revealed by using this bibliometric method. Scientific legends have long been a topic in popular as well as in scientific literature (see for example references [9], [10], and [11]). Wetterer has already applied bibliometric data to the tracing of a scientific legend [12].…”

Section: Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (Rpys)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing the origin of a scientific legend by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS): the legend of the Darwin finches

Marx

Bornmann

2013

Scientometrics

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In a previews paper we introduced the quantitative method named Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS). With this method one can determine the historical roots of research fields and quantify their impact on current research. RPYS is based on the analysis of the frequency with which references are cited in the publications of a specific research field in terms of the publication years of these cited references. In this study, we illustrate that RPYS can also be used to reveal the origin of scientific legends. We selected "Darwin finches" as an example for illustration. Charles Darwin, the originator of evolutionary theory, was given credit for finches he did not see and for observations and insights about the finches he never made. We have shown that a book published in 1947 is the mosthighly cited early reference cited within the relevant literature. This book had already been revealed as the origin of the term "Darwin finches" by Sulloway through careful historical analysis.

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