Shorter Titles Not Always Better for Citations

Researchers find that scientific papers with shorter titles accrue more citations only if they are very popular. For papers flying under the radar, longer titles fare better.

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

WIKIMEDIA, CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER/MODIn contrast to previous findings that scientific papers with short titles receive more citations, a new study of more than 4 million papers suggests that this pattern only holds true for the most-cited papers. For papers that are less popular, having a longer title was associated with more citations.

The study, published today (June 22) in Royal Society Open Science, also analyzed other textual characteristics in titles and abstracts that might help scientists boost their citation rates. Number of authors and the length and complexity of the abstract, for example, had a strong positive influence on citations, but these and other factors again affected top papers differently than less widely read ones.

“Altogether, our results indicate that textual properties of title and abstract have non-trivial effects in the processes leading to the attribution of citations,” Julian Sienkiewicz and Eduardo Altmann of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany, wrote in their paper. “In particular, the effect varies significantly between papers with the usual number of citations and with ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide