Statistical characteristics of breakthrough discoveries in science using the metaphor of black and white swans

Carl J. Zeng; Eric P. Qi; Simon S. Li; H. Eugene Stanley; Fred Y. Ye

doi:10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041

Statistical characteristics of breakthrough discoveries in science using the metaphor of black and white swans

Carl J. Zeng
, Eric P. Qi
, Simon S. Li
, H. Eugene Stanley^*
, Fred Y. Ye^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A publication that reports a breakthrough discovery in a particular scientific field is referred to as a “black swan”, and the most highly-cited papers previously published in the same field “white swans”. Important scientific progress occurs when “white swans” meet a “black swan”, and the citation patterns of the “white swans” change. This metaphor combines scientific discoveries and scientometric data and suggests that breakthrough scientific discoveries are either “black swans” or “grey-black swans”.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	40-46
Number of pages	7
Journal	Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
Volume	487
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2017

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SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

User-Defined Keywords

Black swan
Breakthrough discovery
Grey swan
Scientific discovery
White swan

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10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041

Cite this

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title = "Statistical characteristics of breakthrough discoveries in science using the metaphor of black and white swans",

abstract = "A publication that reports a breakthrough discovery in a particular scientific field is referred to as a “black swan”, and the most highly-cited papers previously published in the same field “white swans”. Important scientific progress occurs when “white swans” meet a “black swan”, and the citation patterns of the “white swans” change. This metaphor combines scientific discoveries and scientometric data and suggests that breakthrough scientific discoveries are either “black swans” or “grey-black swans”.",

keywords = "Black swan, Breakthrough discovery, Grey swan, Scientific discovery, White swan",

author = "Zeng, \{Carl J.\} and Qi, \{Eric P.\} and Li, \{Simon S.\} and Stanley, \{H. Eugene\} and Ye, \{Fred Y.\}",

note = "The authors acknowledge National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant No. 71673131 and Jiangsu Key Laboratory Fund for partially financial supports.The Boston University work was supported by NSF Grants PHY-1505000, CMMI-1125290, and CHE-1213217, and by DTRA Grant HDTRA1-14-1-0017 and DOE Contract DE-AC07-05Id14517. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017",

year = "2017",

month = dec,

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doi = "10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041",

language = "English",

volume = "487",

pages = "40--46",

journal = "Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications",

issn = "0378-4371",

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T1 - Statistical characteristics of breakthrough discoveries in science using the metaphor of black and white swans

AU - Zeng, Carl J.

AU - Qi, Eric P.

AU - Li, Simon S.

AU - Stanley, H. Eugene

AU - Ye, Fred Y.

N1 - The authors acknowledge National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant No. 71673131 and Jiangsu Key Laboratory Fund for partially financial supports.The Boston University work was supported by NSF Grants PHY-1505000, CMMI-1125290, and CHE-1213217, and by DTRA Grant HDTRA1-14-1-0017 and DOE Contract DE-AC07-05Id14517. Publisher Copyright: © 2017

PY - 2017/12/1

Y1 - 2017/12/1

N2 - A publication that reports a breakthrough discovery in a particular scientific field is referred to as a “black swan”, and the most highly-cited papers previously published in the same field “white swans”. Important scientific progress occurs when “white swans” meet a “black swan”, and the citation patterns of the “white swans” change. This metaphor combines scientific discoveries and scientometric data and suggests that breakthrough scientific discoveries are either “black swans” or “grey-black swans”.

AB - A publication that reports a breakthrough discovery in a particular scientific field is referred to as a “black swan”, and the most highly-cited papers previously published in the same field “white swans”. Important scientific progress occurs when “white swans” meet a “black swan”, and the citation patterns of the “white swans” change. This metaphor combines scientific discoveries and scientometric data and suggests that breakthrough scientific discoveries are either “black swans” or “grey-black swans”.

KW - Black swan

KW - Breakthrough discovery

KW - Grey swan

KW - Scientific discovery

KW - White swan

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85021966582

UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437117305599?via%3Dihub

U2 - 10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041

DO - 10.1016/j.physa.2017.05.041

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85021966582

SN - 0378-4371

VL - 487

SP - 40

EP - 46

JO - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications

JF - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications

ER -

Statistical characteristics of breakthrough discoveries in science using the metaphor of black and white swans

Abstract

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