The dynamics of journal-journal citation relations: Can “hot spots” in the sciences be mapped?

Abstract

Using three years of the Journal Citation Reports (2011, 2012, and 2013), indicators of transitions in 2012 (between 2011 and 2013) are studied using methodologies based on entropy statistics. Changes can be indicated at the level of journals using the margin totals of entropy production along the row or column vectors, but also at the level of links among groups of journals by importing the transition matrices into network analysis and visualization programs (and using community-finding algorithms). The limitations of the methodologies (e.g., size-dependency) are also discussed. PLoS ONE has introduced a new communication dynamics into the database.