The chaperone effect in scientific publishing

Experience plays a critical role in crafting high-impact scientific work. This is particularly evident in top multidisciplinary journals, where a scientist is unlikely to appear as senior author if he or she has not previously published within the same journal. Here, we develop a quantitative unders...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 115; no. 50; pp. 12603 - 12607
Main Authors Sekara, Vedran, Deville, Pierre, Ahnert, Sebastian E., Barabási, Albert-László, Sinatra, Roberta, Lehmann, Sune
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 11.12.2018
Subjects
Academic publications
COLLOQUIUM PAPER
Multidisciplinary practices
Physical Sciences
Quantitative analysis
Research methodology
Sackler on Modeling and Visualizing Science and Technology Developments
Scientists
Social Sciences
scientific careers
mentorship
science of science
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Summary:Experience plays a critical role in crafting high-impact scientific work. This is particularly evident in top multidisciplinary journals, where a scientist is unlikely to appear as senior author if he or she has not previously published within the same journal. Here, we develop a quantitative understanding of author order by quantifying this “chaperone effect,” capturing how scientists transition into senior status within a particular publication venue. We illustrate that the chaperone effect has a different magnitude for journals in different branches of science, being more pronounced in medical and biological sciences and weaker in natural sciences. Finally, we show that in the case of high-impact venues, the chaperone effect has significant implications, specifically resulting in a higher average impact relative to papers authored by new principal investigators (PIs). Our findings shed light on the role played by experience in publishing within specific scientific journals, on the paths toward acquiring the necessary experience and expertise, and on the skills required to publish in prestigious venues.
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Author contributions: S.L. conceived the study; R.S. and S.L. led the research; V.S., R.S., and S.L. designed measures and analyses; V.S., P.D., and R.S. collected and curated the data; V.S. conducted the analysis; S.E.A. made the analytical calculations to explain the alphabetical null model; all authors interpreted and discussed the findings; and V.S., A.-L.B., R.S., and S.L. wrote the paper.
2S.L. and R.S. contributed equally to this work.
Edited by Paul Trunfio, Boston University, Boston, MA, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Pablo G. Debenedetti September 6, 2018 (received for review February 15, 2018)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1800471115