Do We Need Global and Local Knowledge of the Citation Network?

Introduction Models which reproduce key features of the distribution citations to academic papers have a long history (Price, 1965). One aim is to illustrate if certain simple processes can explain important features. In this paper we focus on the fact that the distribution of citations for papers of a similar age scales primarily with the average number of citations (Radicchi, Fortunato, & Castellano, 2008; Evans, Hopkins & Kaube, 2012), with the shape otherwise largely invariant. In particular the width shows no temporal evolution. Simple multiplicative processes or basic models such as the Price model (Price, 1965) give dramatically different results, typically the distributions become narrower over time. The purpose of this study is to find a simple model which can lead to the observed behaviour of citations over time.