A new study by the professors from the University of Finland and the University of California revealed that there are too many studies taking place in science. It states that this exponential growth in the number of scientific papers affects researchers who are doing their own study, as they cannot keep track of the publications that may benefit and further their research.

In the paper titled, 'Attention Decay In Science,' the researchers explain that the number of studies conducted and the amount of papers published have only grown with time. This results in the value of the paper depreciating in terms of the number of times it can be cited in other studies. The study states that papers are forgotten quickly because of the large number of research being published, thereby affecting other researchers as they are unable to follow up on the papers that are of importance to their own study.

This state that this trend can be credited to the emergence of the online world and the ability to put up content frequently. They explain that this can be an advantage but leads to quick decay of the popularity of content. “In fact, by measuring time in terms of the number of published works, the decay appears approximately stable over time, across disciplines, although there are slight monotonic trends for Medicine and Biology,” the paper informs.

The study holds true not only to fields of science but in the marketing and entertainment fields as well. However, the study states that scientific publications depend highly on peer reviewed journals that serve as information sources. It also attracts scientists working on similar content, the study highlights. “Attention, measured by the number and lifetime of citations, is the main currency of the scientific community, and along with other forms of recognition forms the basis for promotions and the reputation of scientists,” the study informed. They conclude that to counterbalance the decay of the papers in terms of the decreasing value seen during citations, one has to consider the whole bulk of publications in each discipline.

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