# A review on the novelty measurements of academic papers

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17456 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.17456/

## Key facts

- Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 74 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Jan 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Tradition and Innovation in Scientists' Research Strategies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1302.6906/) (2013)
- [The Diversity-Innovation Paradox in Science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.02063/) (2019)
- [Can ChatGPT evaluate research quality?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05519/) (2024)
- [A review of the literature on citation impact indicators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.02099/) (2015)
- [Defining and identifying Sleeping Beauties in science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.06454/) (2015)
- [New Directions in Science Emerge from Disconnection and Discord](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.03398/) (2021)
- [Do we measure novelty when we analyze unusual combinations of cited references? A validation study of bibliometric novelty indicators based on F1000Prime data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03233/) (2019)
- [Creativity in Science and the Link to Cited References: Is the Creative Potential of Papers Reflected in their Cited References?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.00224/) (2018)
- [Pandemics are catalysts of scientific novelty: Evidence from COVID-19](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.12500/) (2020)
- [Technological impact of biomedical research: the role of basicness and novelty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.02472/) (2020)
- [Is Coronavirus-Related Research Becoming More Interdisciplinary? A Perspective of Co-occurrence Analysis and Diversity Measure of Scientific Articles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.04344/) (2021)
- [Novelpy: A Python package to measure novelty and disruptiveness of bibliometric and patent data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.10346/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [DeepReviewer 2.0: A Traceable Agentic System for Auditable Scientific Peer Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09590/) (2026)
- [NovBench: Evaluating Large Language Models on Academic Paper Novelty Assessment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11543/) (2026)
- [Harnessing Large Language Models for Scientific Novelty Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.24615/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models for History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science: Interpretive Uses, Methodological Challenges, and Critical Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.12242/) (2025)
- [Mapping the Evolution of Research Contributions using KnoVo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.17508/) (2025)
- [Capability-Aware Early-Stage Research Idea Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.12473/) (2026)
- [Are We Truly Innovating? A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Originality in AI Research Papers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.06054/) (2026)
- [An Axiomatic Benchmark for Evaluation of Scientific Novelty Metrics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.15145/) (2026)
- [Is It Novel and Why? Fine-Grained Patent Novelty Prediction Based on Passage Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.02392/) (2026)
- [sciwrite-lint: Verification Infrastructure for the Age of Science Vibe-Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.08501/) (2026)
- [Examining the Cognitive Gap Between Authors and Peer Reviewers on Academic Paper Novelty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.13452/) (2026)
- [Measuring the Novelty of Biomedical Papers Using the Latent Distances between Knowledge Units](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.05175/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Novelty evaluation is vital for the promotion and management of innovation. With the advancement of information techniques and the open data movement, some progress has been made in novelty measurements. Tracking and reviewing novelty measures provides a data-driven way to assess contributions, progress, and emerging directions in the science field. As academic papers serve as the primary medium for the dissemination, validation, and discussion of scientific knowledge, this review aims to offer a systematic analysis of novelty measurements for scientific papers. We began by comparing the differences between scientific novelty and four similar concepts, including originality, scientific innovation, creativity, and scientific breakthrough. Next, we reviewed the types of scientific novelty. Then, we classified existing novelty measures according to data types and reviewed the measures for each type. Subsequently, we surveyed the approaches employed in validating novelty measures and examined the current tools and datasets associated with these measures. Finally, we proposed several open issues for future studies.