From Joy to Fear in Scientific Titles

From joy to fear in scientific titles: automated emotion recognition and the citation payoff explores whether the emotions conveyed by scientific article titles can influence their academic visibility. Drawing on Plutchik’s theory of emotions and using ChatGPT to analyse 15.836 marketing articles, the study shows that some emotions, such as joy, are associated with better citation performance, while others, such as despair, are linked to lower visibility. The findings also suggest that combinations of emotions can matter, with certain configurations potentially giving an article an additional boost. While this effect is modest and non-causal, the research highlights emotion as an overlooked factor in scientific communication and offers new insights into how academic visibility is constructed.