AGING IN STYLE: Seniority and Sentiment in Scholarly Writing

Lea-Rachel Kosnik and Daniel Hamermesh

No 31150, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The scholarly impact of academic research matters for academic promotions, influence, relevance to public policy, and others. Focusing on writing style in top-level professional journals, we examine how it changes with age, and how stylistic differences and age affect impact. As top-level scholars age, their writing style increasingly differs from others’. The impact (measured by citations) of each contribution decreases, due to the direct effect of age and the much smaller indirect effects through style. Non-native English-speakers write in different styles from others, in ways that reduce the impact of their research. Nobel laureates’ scholarly writing evinces less certainty about the conclusions of their research than that of other highly productive scholars.

JEL-codes: A14 B41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-sog
Note: LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as Lea‐Rachel Kosnik & Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2024. "Aging in style: Seniority and sentiment in scholarly writing," Southern Economic Journal, vol 90(4), pages 1136-1164.

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