Dynamics of a field list of internationally visible journals : a stochastic model

Abstract

A basic model for the dynamics of a field list of internationally visible journals is constructed. We study, in function of time, the remainder of an initially choosen set of source journals. The stochastic process turns out to be a martingale in the limit (mil) or a quasi martingale, according to a.e. or L1-boundedness conditions on the controlling parameters of the system. Hence by theorems of Mucci of 1976 and of Bellow of 1978, the process converges under these conditions. We do not know of any other "real life" applications of mils and quasi martingales. The application in the field of information science is remarkable.