Relation of title length of journal articles to number of authors

M. Yitzhaki

doi:10.1007/bf02017231

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Scientometrics

Volume/Issue:: Volume 30: Issue 1

Relation of title length of journal articles to number of authors

Author:

M. Yitzhaki

M. Yitzhaki Bar-Ilan University Department of Information and Library Studies 52900 Ramat-Gan (Israel) 52900 Ramat-Gan (Israel)

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Pages:: 321–332

Online Publication Date:: 13 Aug 2005

Publication Date:: 26 May 1994

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02017231

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Abstract

The great importance of titles being highly informative is almost unanimously accepted in literature, assuming that the more informative titles are, the more effectively they serve their functions. The most common measure of title informativeness has been the number of substantive words included in it, and one of the factors which might be associated with it is the number of authors. The present study attempted to test, in a large group of journals fromdifferent areas, and over six decades, the hypothesis that a paper signed by a larger number of authors will have more substantive words in its title. Large samples of original research papers were drawn from each decade year of fourteen leading journals. For each paper, the number of substantive words in the title was correlated with the number of authors. Findings indicate a difference between the scientific journals on the one hand, and the social sciences and humanities journals on the other. A moderate positive correlation was found in most scientific journals (excluding mathematics) for many periods. In the social sciences journals, and to a greater extent, in the humanities journals, a significant positive correlation was limited to only a few periods, while the rest showed a very low correlation, or even a negative correlation. The different findings for the sciences may be somehow associated with their higher rate of multiple authorship.

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Scientometrics

Print ISSN:: 0138-9130

Online ISSN:: 1588-2861

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Scientometrics
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1978
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	12
Founder	Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
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Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
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ISSN	0138-9130 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2861 (Online)