Rediscovering Forgotten Research: Sleeping Beauties at the University of Waterloo

Abstract

An academic article is normally cited within a few years of publication, after which interest falls off as the research field moves on. However, an article is sometimes ignored for many years only to attract interest after a long period of dormancy. Such articles are called "Sleeping Beauties." A general characterization of this pattern has recently been defined and is used in this study to identify five Sleeping Beauties that were published by researchers at the University of Waterloo in the 1970s and 1980s. While a handful of studies have examined the occurrence of such Sleeping Beauties in specific fields of research or in a particular journal, none has yet identified these unusual articles in the context of the lasting impact of a university's research. This study is therefore a novel application of the latest technique for identifying Sleeping Beauties. The possibilities for using this unusual citation pattern in raising the profile of a university's research are discussed.