Although citation flows among papers constitute one of the critical stratifying mechanisms in science, insufficient attention has been paid to the determinants of such flows. Previous research has studied citation flows in terms of characteristics of cited articles, but has ignored the role played by characteristics of the citing articles. This project extends previous research by viewing the citation process as a dyadic relationship that simultaneously encompasses characteristics of both citing and cited articles. Using data on two research areas, one in astrophysics and one in economics, this research will develop a network analytic approach to analyze all of the possible citation links between the papers in the area. This project will extend our understanding of stratification in science by illuminating the allocation of credit at the micro level of the citation. In addition, by adopting a comparative framework, it may produce further information about similarities or differences between the physical and social sciences.
