Scientific Paradigms: What Citation Distribution Analysis Reflects?
Abstract
A common, current theme in the philosophy of science suggests that a research field can come
to a crisis, and a paradigm can be changed, resulting sometimes even in a scientific revolution.
Current literature does not talk about revolutions but rather refers to a paradigm shift. How can
the paradigm be changed and who will change it? One could also ask “how does the scientific
community reproduce the existing paradigm and how can the new paradigms emerge”. It can also
be seen as a very systematic and conscious process of the scientific community, constructing the
theory of science, or as an uncontrollable autonomous process of a social system of science. Here, to
formulate several such questions, we empathetically try to unfold the structure of real citation networks
and realize the notion of paradigm shifting based on several orthogonal perspectives of author and citation.
Moreover, we try to deduce the impact of the fields in a domain using citations and
to recommend the shift of research direction and its divergence.
Project Members
Prof. Niloy Ganguly
Prof. Animesh Mukherjee
Tanmoy Chakraborty (PhD scholar)
Sri Krishna Vihar (Student, 5th year Dual degree)