Eponyms in Science: how long can they get?

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Title: Eponyms in Science: how long can they get?
Authors: Manz, Niklas1 (AUTHOR) nmanz@wooster.edu, McCullough, Ian2 (AUTHOR) imccullough@wooster.edu
Source: Scientometrics. Jul2025, Vol. 130 Issue 7, p3455-3482. 28p.
Subjects: Nonlinear dynamical systems, Acronyms, Research questions, Scholarly periodicals, Authorship
Abstract: The number of coauthors in peer-reviewed articles increased significantly in the last two decades, mainly driven by large multinational collaborations in physics and medicine. We are presenting a similar trend in the number of names used in eponyms. One-, two-, and three-name eponyms have been used for centuries, eponyms with four or five names appeared first at the end of the twentieth century, and creating six- and seven-name eponyms is a phenomenon of the last decade. Due to the plethora of eponyms in the scientific literature, most examples are related to nonlinear dynamical systems, the first-author's field of research. Longer eponyms were usually first used in the article body and abstract before appearing in an article title. To combine scientific concepts and/or adding names to create new eponymns, some scientists use eponymic acronyms to shorten new eponyms while preserving the idea of honoring previous work or offering a 'short hand' for defining their system. Unfortunately, the more names are added, the more variations can be created. We discuss these issues and also highlight the importance of distinguishing between the use of hyphens [-] and dashes [–]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Scientometrics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: The number of coauthors in peer-reviewed articles increased significantly in the last two decades, mainly driven by large multinational collaborations in physics and medicine. We are presenting a similar trend in the number of names used in eponyms. One-, two-, and three-name eponyms have been used for centuries, eponyms with four or five names appeared first at the end of the twentieth century, and creating six- and seven-name eponyms is a phenomenon of the last decade. Due to the plethora of eponyms in the scientific literature, most examples are related to nonlinear dynamical systems, the first-author's field of research. Longer eponyms were usually first used in the article body and abstract before appearing in an article title. To combine scientific concepts and/or adding names to create new eponymns, some scientists use eponymic acronyms to shorten new eponyms while preserving the idea of honoring previous work or offering a 'short hand' for defining their system. Unfortunately, the more names are added, the more variations can be created. We discuss these issues and also highlight the importance of distinguishing between the use of hyphens [-] and dashes [–]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Scientometrics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1007/s11192-025-05328-9
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Nonlinear dynamical systems
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Acronyms
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      – SubjectFull: Research questions
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              Text: Jul2025
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