Solution of a problem of Buckland on the influence of obsolescence on scattering

Abstract

In an old paper [M.K. Buckland. Are obsolescence and scattering related? Journal of Documentation 28 (3) (1972) 242-246] Buckland poses the question if certain types of obsolescence of scientific literature (in terms of age of citations) implies certain types of journal scattering (in terms of cited journals). This problem is reformulated in terms of one- and two-dimensional obsolescence and linked with one- and two-dimensional growth, the latter being studied by Naranan. Naranan shows that two-dimensional exponential growth (i.e. of the journals and of the articles in journals) implies Lotka''s law, a law belonging to two-dimensional informetrics and describing scattering of literature in a concise way. In this way we obtain that exponential aging of journal citations and of article citations imply Lotka''s law and a relation is given between the exponent agr in Lotka''s law and the aging rates of the two obsolescence processes studied.