Charles Dotter & the birth of Interventional Radiology: A sleeping beauty with a restless sleep
Résumé
Charles Dotter is described as the father of interventional radiology, a medical specialty born
at the cross-border of radiology and cardiology. Dotter’s landmark paper published in 1964
was poorly cited until 1979 and can be considered from a scientometric point of view as a
sleeping beauty. Sleeping-beauties are article that suffer of a delayed recognition. This paper,
will explore the bibliometric characteristics of this case study and the accuracy of Van Raan’s
criteria to define “sleeping beauty” in science will be discussed. “The prince” is identified
through citation network analysis, and the sleeping period has been documented as a restless
sleep period with science and social controversy that could be documented in publications
databases by differentiating bibliographic references. Therefore, a category of “sleeping
beauty” –like paper should be introduced. By the end, theses observations should open new
avenues in identifying “sleeping beauties”.