In it, the authors study how repeat authorship in academic journals could be an exemplar of cumulative advantage, also called the Matthew Effect. They analyze publication data from 347 economics journals from 1980-2017, alongside three major generalist science journals, to try and uncover trends in how articles from repeat authors fare compared to those from debut authors. They find both benefits and drawbacks to repeat authorship — including how citation impact declines with repeat authorship, but number of publications increases.

“Preferring repeat authors may be a risk-averse decision-making strategy for journal gatekeepers dealing with the uncertainty of appraising and choosing the most meritorious science to publish,” the authors write. “However, these cumulative advantage incentives and processes may also present risks of undermining innovation and diversity in science, if not also professional norms of meritocracy.”

Read the full article at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265831.