The term "author number" refers to a unique identification code assigned to an author in the field of academic publishing. It is often used in bibliographic databases and citation indexes to distinguish individual authors. An author number serves as a distinctive identifier, ensuring proper recognition and accurate citation of scholarly works.
An author number is typically assigned by an indexing or abstracting service, such as the Web of Science or Scopus, and is associated with the author's name and published research. It helps to differentiate authors with similar or identical names, ensuring that their works are correctly attributed and properly cited. This number aids in maintaining author identity across different publications, promoting consistency and avoiding confusion.
The author number plays a crucial role in the field of scholarly communication, facilitating accurate citation tracking, evaluation, and analysis of an author's research impact. It allows researchers, institutions, and funding agencies to assess an individual's academic output, collaboration patterns, and citation metrics.
Moreover, author numbers also enable the identification and tracking of an author's publications even if they change affiliations, names, or adopt different publishing variations (such as author initials or name variations). It strengthens the integrity and reliability of scholarly record-keeping, making it easier to evaluate an author's productivity, influence, and contributions to their respective field of study.
In summary, an author number is a unique identifier assigned to researchers in order to distinguish their work and ensure accurate attribution and citation within the realm of academic publishing.