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Temporal Ordering of Dynamic Expression Data from Detailed Spatial Expression Maps
Published on: February 9, 2017
Temporal patterns of genes in scientific publications
Thomas Pfeiffer1, Robert Hoffmann
1Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, One Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. pfeiffer@fas.harvard.edu
Summary
Researchers focus on frequently published genes, a trend modeled mathematically. This publication pattern, while potentially rewarding, creates a biased view of gene interaction networks and scientific discovery.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Computational Biology
- Scientific Publishing Analysis
Background:
- Scientific knowledge is largely contained within journal publications.
- Analyzing publication data reveals how scientific knowledge evolves over time.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a mathematical model for the temporal dynamics of scientific content in publications.
- To investigate the underlying processes driving publication trends in scientific research.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a dataset of gene references from over 15 million PubMed publications.
- Developed and applied a mathematical model to analyze temporal publication dynamics.
- Compared empirical data with model predictions to identify deviations.
Main Results:
- Observed that researchers predominantly publish on genes already prominent in the literature.
- Found a positive correlation between gene publication frequency and journal impact.
- Identified unusual publication patterns potentially indicating major scientific achievements.
- Demonstrated that gene frequency bias in publications skews the representation of yeast gene interaction networks.
Conclusions:
- The observed publication dynamics can be explained by researchers focusing on high-impact, frequently published genes.
- This focus may lead to a biased understanding of scientific fields, particularly in network analysis.
- The model can help identify significant scientific breakthroughs by detecting deviations from expected publication patterns.
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