Intensive, clear and concise three -part people increase the citations of research
Intensive, clear and concise three -part people increase the citations of research
from "envy, inequality and fertility" to "market size, trade and productivity" - the use of catchy three -part phrases in the titles of research can increase their citations, according to the result of a study.
The study used algorithms to analyze more than 235,000 economics as well as 93,000 medical and life science contributions that contain three -part phrases in their titles. The medical and life science studies used by this format received an average of 32 additional citations in comparison that do not contain such phrases. Economic work with this format recorded an average of 3.5 additional citations.
"If you have a catchy title, readers are more willing to read the summary or the entire work," says Klaus Wohlrabe, co-author of the study and economist at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Munich, Germany. The 1 last month published on the SSRN-Print server.
Earlier analyzes have shown that Title , Humorous title or Certain sentence marks can also contribute to increasing the number of quotations.
The economics work was published in specialist journals that are indexed between 2006 and 2019 in the scientific database Web of Science. The life science and medical studies - assessed from 2001 to 2023 - were rated by the service to re -assess publications, faculty Opinions, as "good", "very good" or "excellent".
Wohlrabe explains that medical and life -scientific studies with three -part phrases in their titles attract more additional citations than comparable economics because "the average citations for an article in medicine or life sciences are much higher than in economics".
The study states that "three -part phrases" increase clarity by displacing complex ideas into interconnected parts, creating rhythmic patterns that are memorable and convey several aspects of research.
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Bornmann, L. & Wohlrabe, K. Pattern, Perception, and Performance: Tripartite Phrases in Academic Paper Titiles. Cesifo Working Paper 11671 (Center for Economic Studies and IFO Institute, 2025).