Quantifying the long-term influence of scientific publications

We consider the long-term indirect influence of publications on subsequent publications. In particular, we are here interested in long-term scientific influence at the level of disciplines. We present a novel method to quantify the long-term scientific influence of publications, considering both direct and indirect, or higher-order citations. We apply this method to Web of Science data at the level of disciplines. Preliminary results for a specific operationalization of the notion of long-term scientific influence suggest that long-term influence is dominated by a few disciplines: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Basic Life Sciences, and Physics and Material Science.</p