In a fit of self-centeredness (okay, maybe I’m always in such a fit 🙂 ) I decided to see if I’m a source or a sink on the arXiv (or at least the arXiv as seen by Citebase.) Below are a list of my papers (excluding my thesis) which I’ve posted on the archive along with citation numbers and reference numbers. Using this I can see whether I am a source or a sink on the graph of citations.
| Id | Citations | References | Difference |
| quant-ph/0612107 | 0 | 47 | -47 |
| quant-ph/0610088 | 0 | 31 | -31 |
| quant-ph/0601001 | 4 | 51 | -47 |
| quant-ph/0506023 | 10 | 59 | -49 |
| quant-ph/0504083 | 8 | 32 | -24 |
| quant-ph/0503047 | 2 | 16 | -14 |
| quant-ph/0501044 | 14 | 48 | -34 |
| quant-ph/0407082 | 16 | 19 | -3 |
| quant-ph/0405115 | 2 | 36 | -34 |
| quant-ph/0405115 | 4 | 38 | -34 |
| quant-ph/0307148 | 2 | 28 | -26 |
| quant-ph/0304076 | 27 | 11 | 16 |
| quant-ph/0208057 | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| quant-ph/0112013 | 24 | 21 | 3 |
| quant-ph/0102140 | 21 | 11 | 10 |
| quant-ph/0012018 | 20 | 14 | 6 |
| quant-ph/0009088 | 20 | 7 | 13 |
| quant-ph/0008070 | 13 | 22 | -9 |
| quant-ph/0007013 | 29 | 51 | -22 |
| quant-ph/0005116 | 184 | 22 | 162 |
| quant-ph/0004064 | 147 | 57 | 90 |
| quant-ph/9909058 | 112 | 23 | 89 |
| quant-ph/9908064 | 32 | 46 | -14 |
| quant-ph/9907096 | 4 | 22 | -18 |
| quant-ph/9902041 | 42 | 36 | 6 |
| quant-ph/9809081 | 77 | 17 | 60 |
So what’s the verdict? Well, one, it is depressing to make this list on Monday. And two, I’m a source by 52 citations. That means I’ve generated like six citations per year over my career. If I include my thesis in the above table, I definitely become a sink. Apparently writing your thesis really is a waste of time 😉
Anti-troll: And of course, all of this doesn’t matter. But it’s fun and self indulgant.
Did you do this by hand? If you used a script, would you mind posting it?
I made it by hand because citebase’s reference list isn’t complete.