Consensus formation in science modeled by aggregated bibliographic coupling

The level of consensus in science has traditionally been measured by a number of different methods. The variety is important as each method measures different aspects of science and consensus. Citation analytical studies have previously measured the level of consensus using the scientific journal as their unit of analysis. To produce a more fine grained citation analysis one needs to study consensus formation on an even more detailed level – i.e. the scientific document or article. To do so, we have developed a new technique that measures consensus by aggregated bibliographic couplings (ABC) between documents. The advantages of the ABC-technique are demonstrated in a study of two selected disciplines in which the levels of consensus are measured using the proposed technique.

► The number of references is not correlated with Gini-values indicating that a small number of references in an article does not imply a greater level of consensus. ► The results indicate that there generally seems to be a higher degree of consensus in current scholarship in physics than in psychology. ► There is great variation within disciplines (there is no such thing as the typical journal). ► There is a great variation within journals (there is no such thing as the typical article).