Social Sciences
Source: http://www.researchtrends.com/issue24-september-2011/heading-for-success-or-how-not-to-title-your-paper/
its content. It?s the first thing potential readers of the paper see,
before deciding to move on to the abstract or full text. As academic
authors want to maximize the readership of their papers it is
unsurprising that they usually take a lot of care in choosing an
appropriate title. But what makes a title draw in citations?
titles on citations. Jamali and Nikzad, for example, found differences
between the citation rates of articles with different types of titles.
In particular, they found that articles with a question mark or colon in
their title tend to be cited less1. The authors noted that
?no significant correlation was found between title length and
citations?, a result conflicting with another study by Habibzadeh and
Yadollahie finding that ?longer titles seem to be associated with higher
citation rates?2.
2006 and 2010, and their citations within the same window. Overall,
there was no direct correlation between title length (measured in number
of characters) and total citations. However, comparing the citation
rates of articles of different lengths revealed that papers with titles
between 31 and 40 characters were cited the most (see Figure 1). There
were also differences in average number of citations per paper depending
on the punctuation used in the titles: for instance, the few papers
with questions marks in their titles were clearly cited less, but titles
containing a comma or colon were cited more (see Figure 2). There were
no papers with a semicolon in their title, and only one (uncited) paper
with an exclamation mark in its title. It is interesting to note that
the ten most cited papers in Research Trends? case study did not contain any punctuation at all in their titles.
in its corpus for their take on the influence of titles on citations.
For some authors, such as Professor Deepak Srivastava ? who published a paper in Cell with a title that included three commas3
? the main emphasis when choosing a title is semantics: "We chose a
title that would reflect the major findings of the paper and the
conclusion we would like the field to derive from the contribution. I
don't pay too much attention to the title's effect on citations."
Interestingly, different criteria are used for title assignment
depending on the type of paper, as explained by Professor Ben Blencowe:
"For research articles, I try to use titles that are concise while
conveying the most interesting and surprising new results from the
study. For review titles, I generally start with the main overall
subject followed by a colon and then one or more subtopics that best
describe the contents of the review. My 2006 Cell review on alternative splicing4
followed this format. It is not clear to me that this format increases
citation impact ? I would hope that the overall information content,
timeliness and quality of writing in a review are directly related to
citation impact! ? but using punctuation in this way helps to convey at a
glance what the review is about."
being dull, some authors are tempted to spice them up with a touch of
humour, which may be a pun, a play on words, or an amusing metaphor.
This, however, is a risky strategy. An analysis5 of papers
published in two psychology journals, carried out by Sagi and Yechiam,
found that ?articles with highly amusing titles [?] received fewer
citations?, suggesting that academic authors should leave being funny to
comedians.
In sum, the citation analysis of papers according to title
characteristics is better at telling authors what to avoid than what to
include. Our results, combined with others, suggest that a high-impact
paper should be neither too short nor too long (somewhere between 30 and
40 characters appears to be the sweet spot for papers published in Cell).
It may also be advisable to avoid question marks and exclamation marks
(though colons and commas do not seem to have a negative impact on
subsequent citation). And even when you think you have a clever joke to
work in to a title, it probably won?t help you gain citations. Finally,
while a catchy title can help get readers to look at your paper, it?s
not going to turn a bad paper into a good one.
Figure 1 ? Average number of citations per paper by title length for papers published in Cell 2006?2010, and their citations within the same window. Data labels show number of papers. Source: Scopus.
Figure 2 ? Average number of citations per paper by punctuation mark for papers published in Cell 2006-2010, and their citations within the same window. Data labels show number of papers. Source: Scopus.
Heading for success: or how not to title your paper - Research Trends
- Improving Your Citations - University Of Huddersfield
Source: http://www.hud.ac.uk/library/staff/citations-bibliometrics/improvingyourcitations/ Improving your citationsThere are a number of ways to improve your citation rate. Where and how you publishYou can use tools such as the Journal Citation...
- Journal & Author Impact Metrics | University Of Texas Libraries
Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/subject/education/journalmetrics Journal & Author Impact Metrics Journal Impact Factor (JIF) What it is: A measure of citations to a journal based on 2 year period. A 2012 impact factor...
- Improving Your Citations
Source: http://www.hud.ac.uk/library/staff/citations-bibliometrics/improvingyourcitations/ Improving your citationsThere are a number of ways to improve your citation rate. Where and how you publishMaking your research available as open access...
- Choosing A Catchy Title For Your Scientific Manuscript | American Journal Experts (aje)
Source: https://www2.aje.com/en/education/other-resources/articles/choosing-catchy-title-your-scientific-manuscript Choosing a Catchy Title for Your Scientific Manuscript By Ben Mudrak on Mon 8 Sep, 14 ...
- Glossary - Citation Analysis - Libguides At Long Island University-brooklyn
Source: http://liu.brooklyn.libguides.com/c.php?g=138192&p=903205 Useful Terms to Know Aggregate Cited Half Life: An indicator of the turnover rate for a body of work on a subject. Cited Half-Life: "The...
Social Sciences
Heading for success: or how not to title your paper - Research Trends
Source: http://www.researchtrends.com/issue24-september-2011/heading-for-success-or-how-not-to-title-your-paper/
Heading for success: or how not to title your paper
The title of a paper acts as a gateway toits content. It?s the first thing potential readers of the paper see,
before deciding to move on to the abstract or full text. As academic
authors want to maximize the readership of their papers it is
unsurprising that they usually take a lot of care in choosing an
appropriate title. But what makes a title draw in citations?
Is longer better?
Bibliometric analyses can be used to illuminate the influence oftitles on citations. Jamali and Nikzad, for example, found differences
between the citation rates of articles with different types of titles.
In particular, they found that articles with a question mark or colon in
their title tend to be cited less1. The authors noted that
?no significant correlation was found between title length and
citations?, a result conflicting with another study by Habibzadeh and
Yadollahie finding that ?longer titles seem to be associated with higher
citation rates?2.
Research Trends investigates
Faced with inconsistent evidence, Research Trends decided to conduct its own case study of scholarly papers published in Cell between2006 and 2010, and their citations within the same window. Overall,
there was no direct correlation between title length (measured in number
of characters) and total citations. However, comparing the citation
rates of articles of different lengths revealed that papers with titles
between 31 and 40 characters were cited the most (see Figure 1). There
were also differences in average number of citations per paper depending
on the punctuation used in the titles: for instance, the few papers
with questions marks in their titles were clearly cited less, but titles
containing a comma or colon were cited more (see Figure 2). There were
no papers with a semicolon in their title, and only one (uncited) paper
with an exclamation mark in its title. It is interesting to note that
the ten most cited papers in Research Trends? case study did not contain any punctuation at all in their titles.
The authors explain
Research Trends contacted authors from highly cited papersin its corpus for their take on the influence of titles on citations.
For some authors, such as Professor Deepak Srivastava ? who published a paper in Cell with a title that included three commas3
? the main emphasis when choosing a title is semantics: "We chose a
title that would reflect the major findings of the paper and the
conclusion we would like the field to derive from the contribution. I
don't pay too much attention to the title's effect on citations."
Interestingly, different criteria are used for title assignment
depending on the type of paper, as explained by Professor Ben Blencowe:
"For research articles, I try to use titles that are concise while
conveying the most interesting and surprising new results from the
study. For review titles, I generally start with the main overall
subject followed by a colon and then one or more subtopics that best
describe the contents of the review. My 2006 Cell review on alternative splicing4
followed this format. It is not clear to me that this format increases
citation impact ? I would hope that the overall information content,
timeliness and quality of writing in a review are directly related to
citation impact! ? but using punctuation in this way helps to convey at a
glance what the review is about."
Are you having a laugh?
Given that straightforwardly descriptive paper titles run the risk ofbeing dull, some authors are tempted to spice them up with a touch of
humour, which may be a pun, a play on words, or an amusing metaphor.
This, however, is a risky strategy. An analysis5 of papers
published in two psychology journals, carried out by Sagi and Yechiam,
found that ?articles with highly amusing titles [?] received fewer
citations?, suggesting that academic authors should leave being funny to
comedians.
In sum, the citation analysis of papers according to title
characteristics is better at telling authors what to avoid than what to
include. Our results, combined with others, suggest that a high-impact
paper should be neither too short nor too long (somewhere between 30 and
40 characters appears to be the sweet spot for papers published in Cell).
It may also be advisable to avoid question marks and exclamation marks
(though colons and commas do not seem to have a negative impact on
subsequent citation). And even when you think you have a clever joke to
work in to a title, it probably won?t help you gain citations. Finally,
while a catchy title can help get readers to look at your paper, it?s
not going to turn a bad paper into a good one.
Figures
Figure 1 ? Average number of citations per paper by title length for papers published in Cell 2006?2010, and their citations within the same window. Data labels show number of papers. Source: Scopus.
Figure 2 ? Average number of citations per paper by punctuation mark for papers published in Cell 2006-2010, and their citations within the same window. Data labels show number of papers. Source: Scopus.
References
Jamali, H.R. & Nikzad M. (2011) Article title type and its relation with the number of downloads and citations. Scientometrics, online first. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0412-z
Habibzadeh, F. & Yadollahie, M. (2010) Are Shorter Article
Titles More Attractive for Citations? Cross-sectional study of 22
scientific journals. Croatian Medical Journal, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 165?170.
Zhao Y., Srivastava D., Ransom J.F., Li A., Vedantham V., von
Drehle M., Muth A.N., Tsuchihashi T., McManus M.T. & Schwartz R.J.
(2007) Dysregulation of cardiogenesis, cardiac conduction, and cell
cycle in mice lacking miRNA-1?2. Cell, Vol. 129, No. 2, pp. 303?317.
Blencowe, B. J. (2006) Alternative splicing: new insights from global analyses?, Cell, Vol. 126, No. 1, pp. 848?858.
Sagi, I. & Yechiam, E. (2008) Amusing titles in scientific journals and article citation. Journal of Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 680?687.
Heading for success: or how not to title your paper - Research Trends
- Improving Your Citations - University Of Huddersfield
Source: http://www.hud.ac.uk/library/staff/citations-bibliometrics/improvingyourcitations/ Improving your citationsThere are a number of ways to improve your citation rate. Where and how you publishYou can use tools such as the Journal Citation...
- Journal & Author Impact Metrics | University Of Texas Libraries
Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/subject/education/journalmetrics Journal & Author Impact Metrics Journal Impact Factor (JIF) What it is: A measure of citations to a journal based on 2 year period. A 2012 impact factor...
- Improving Your Citations
Source: http://www.hud.ac.uk/library/staff/citations-bibliometrics/improvingyourcitations/ Improving your citationsThere are a number of ways to improve your citation rate. Where and how you publishMaking your research available as open access...
- Choosing A Catchy Title For Your Scientific Manuscript | American Journal Experts (aje)
Source: https://www2.aje.com/en/education/other-resources/articles/choosing-catchy-title-your-scientific-manuscript Choosing a Catchy Title for Your Scientific Manuscript By Ben Mudrak on Mon 8 Sep, 14 ...
- Glossary - Citation Analysis - Libguides At Long Island University-brooklyn
Source: http://liu.brooklyn.libguides.com/c.php?g=138192&p=903205 Useful Terms to Know Aggregate Cited Half Life: An indicator of the turnover rate for a body of work on a subject. Cited Half-Life: "The...