Which signals are important in gaining attention in science? For a group of 1,371 scientific articles published in 17 demography journals in the years 1990-1992 we track their influence and discern which signals are important in receiving citations. Three types of signals are examined: the...

Science is a winner-take-all profession in which only few contributions get excessive attention and the large majority of papers remains receives scant or no attention. This so-called 'waste' together with all the competitive strategies of scientists seeking attention is part and parcel of any...

Attention is the coordination device which makes modern science work the way it does. A typical characteristic of attention in the scientific world is that those who seek attention are the same people who are giving it. Another important feature within groups is the skewed distribution of...