Lotka's Law and Map Librarianship

Abstract

Lotka's Law states that given the number of authors who have written one article, the number writing multiple articles can be predicted. Though Lotka's Law was based on a study of the chemistry and physics literature, interest has recently developed as to its possible application to the humanities. A test of this general law for the field of map librarianship is discussed, illustrating that Lotka's Law is valid for this discipline.

Patterns of Research Productivity in the Business Ethics Literature: Insights from Analyses of Bibliometric Distributions

“…Our study covers both the leading journals in the business ethics discipline, viz., Business Ethics Quarterly and Journal of Business Ethics. We use a comprehensive data set that includes all research Bino et al (2005) Economics a Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Chung and Cox (1990) Finance Estimated and predicted patterns very close Accounting Estimated and predicted patterns very close Chung and Puelz (1992) Risk Management Estimated and predicted patterns very close Cox and Chung (1991) Economics Estimated and predicted patterns very close Gupta et al (1998) Physics b Estimated and predicted patterns very close Murphy (1973) Humanities Estimated and predicted patterns very close Radhakrishnan and Kernizan (1979) Computer Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Schorr (1975) Map librarianship Estimated and predicted patterns very close Schorr (1974) Library Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Subramanyam (1979) Computer Science Estimated and predicted patterns very close Voos (1974) Information Science Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted Worthen (1978) Medicine Estimated concentration pattern relatively more diffused than predicted a Studies only economics journals based in India. b Studies only physics journals based in India.…”

Lotka's law and the literature of computer science

“…The center of the range showed a closer correlation between expected author productivity and the actual number of papers produced. Schorr [17] found that Lotka's inverse-square law was not applicable to the literature of library science, where four-fifths of all papers were contributed by authors writing one paper each. Schorr proposed an exponent of four (instead of two in Lotka's formula) and suggested that "for library science literature, scholarly production would follow an in verse quadruple power law whereby for each 100 contributors of single articles, about six will contribute two articles, about one will contribute three articles, and almost no writers would provide four articles or more" [17, p. 33].…”

Bibliometrics: Its Theoretical Foundations, Methods and Applications

“…Coile (17) similarly analyzed Murphy's data and reported that they were not in accord with Lotka's Law. Schorr analyzed data from a bibliography he had compiled on map librarianship and concluded that Lotka's Law applied (67). Coile reexamined Schorr's data and found that his conclusion was erroneous because he had counted joint authors (unlike Lotka's procedure) and also had used Chi-Square test inappropriately.…”