This study presents a large scale analysis of the distribution and presence
of Mendeley readership scores over time and across disciplines. We study
whether Mendeley readership scores (RS) can identify highly cited publications
more effectively than journal citation scores (JCS). Web of Science (WoS)
publications with DOIs published during the period 2004-2013 and across 5 major
scientific fields have been analyzed. The main result of this study shows that
readership scores are more effective (in terms of precision/recall values) than
journal citation scores to identify highly cited publications across all fields
of science and publication years. The findings also show that 86.5% of all the
publications are covered by Mendeley and have at least one reader. Also the
share of publications with Mendeley readership scores is increasing from 84% in
2004 to 89% in 2009, and decreasing from 88% in 2010 to 82% in 2013. However,
it is noted that publications from 2010 onwards exhibit on average a higher
density of readership vs. citation scores. This indicates that compared to
citation scores, readership scores are more prevalent for recent publications
and hence they could work as an early indicator of research impact. These
findings highlight the potential and value of Mendeley as a tool for
scientometric purposes and particularly as a relevant tool to identify highly
cited publications
