Bringing PageRank to the citation analysis

The paper attempts to provide an alternative method for measuring the importance of scientific papers based on the Google’s PageRank. The method is a meaningful extension of the common integer counting of citations and is then experimented for bringing PageRank to the citation analysis in a large citation network. It offers a more integrated picture of the publications’ influence in a specific field. We firstly calculate the PageRanks of scientific papers. The distributional characteristics and comparison with the traditionally used number of citations are then analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the PageRank is implemented in the evaluation of research influence for several countries in the field of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology during the time period of 2000–2005. Finally, some advantages of bringing PageRank to the citation analysis are concluded.