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Abstract A series of models of the interrelationship of scientific journals has been developed from the cross citing amongst 275 journals in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. The data source was the Journal Citation Index (JCI), a file derived from the Science Citation Index. The JCI consists of a journal by journal tabulation of citings to and from each journal in the Index. A large amount of consistency was found between the citing characteristics of the journals in the different scientific fields, with quite clear boundaries between fields and a few well known cross disciplinary journals as cross field information links. The separate disciplines appear to relate to each other in an orderly manner, with a natural sequence: mathematics → physics → chemistry → biochemistry → biology. Within disciplines the journals form fully transitive hierarchies with very few relational conflicts.
Narin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.