“Critical Transitions” and “Avalanches” in Journal-Journal Citation Relations

Using the complete Journal Citation Reports (Science Citation Index, SCI, and Social Sciences Citation Index, SSCI) during the period 1994-2016 as data, we address the question of change and stability in the sciences at the level of the (n2) aggregated citation links between (n) journals. Information theory enables us to study longitudinal developments first at the level of cells and then to aggregate, since the Shannon-formulae are based on using Ss. Micro-developments in the data can thus be related to theorizing about the sciences in terms of distributed change (Price, 1976; cf. Kuhn, 1962).