A Bibliometric Analysis of the 35th anniversary of the paper "The Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data" by John Aitchison (1982)

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the paper published by John Aitchison in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological) in 1982. Having recently reached the milestone of 35 years since its publication, this pioneering paper was the first to illustrate the use of the methodology "Compositional Data Analysis" or "CoDA". By October 2019, this paper had received over 780 citations, making it the most widely cited and influential article among those using said methodology. The bibliometric approach used in this study encompasses a wide range of techniques, including a specific analysis of the main authors and institutions to have cited Aitchison' paper. The VOSviewer software was also used for the purpose of developing network maps for said publication. Specifically, the techniques used were co-citations and bibliographic coupling. The results clearly show the significant impact the paper has had on scientific research, having been cited by authors and institutions that publish all around the world.