W. Nelson Francis

14.1k total citations · 3 hit papers
56 papers, 9.9k citations indexed

About

W. Nelson Francis is a scholar working on Language and Linguistics, Linguistics and Language and Artificial Intelligence. According to data from OpenAlex, W. Nelson Francis has authored 56 papers receiving a total of 9.9k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 16 papers in Language and Linguistics, 11 papers in Linguistics and Language and 9 papers in Artificial Intelligence. Recurrent topics in W. Nelson Francis's work include Linguistic Variation and Morphology (11 papers), Lexicography and Language Studies (11 papers) and Natural Language Processing Techniques (8 papers). W. Nelson Francis is often cited by papers focused on Linguistic Variation and Morphology (11 papers), Lexicography and Language Studies (11 papers) and Natural Language Processing Techniques (8 papers). W. Nelson Francis collaborates with scholars based in United States. W. Nelson Francis's co-authors include Henry Kučera, W. F. Twaddell, John B. Carroll, Mary Lois Marckworth, Raven I. McDavid, Sidney Smith, Simeon Potter, Jan Svartvik, Hans van Halteren and Harold Orton and has published in prestigious journals such as Language, College Composition and Communication and Lingua.

In The Last Decade

W. Nelson Francis

50 papers receiving 8.6k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Computational analysis of present-day American English

1967 6.3k citations W. Nelson Francis et al. profile →
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH USAGE: LEXICON AND GRAMMAR

1983 1.7k citations W. Nelson Francis et al. profile →
The alchemy of English: The spread, functions, and models of non-native Englishes. By Braj B. Kachru Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990 (1986). Pp. xii, 200. $12.95.

1992 695 citations W. Nelson Francis Language profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
W. Nelson Francis United States	19	5.0k	3.9k	2.5k	2.2k	1.8k	56	9.9k
Henry Kučera United States	7	5.0k 1.0×	3.7k 0.9×	2.3k 0.9×	1.9k 0.8×	693 0.4×	24	8.1k
Elissa L. Newport United States	47	6.0k 1.2×	10.5k 2.7×	4.2k 1.6×	3.0k 1.4×	2.6k 1.5×	104	15.8k
Simon Garrod United Kingdom	39	3.8k 0.7×	2.8k 0.7×	3.8k 1.5×	2.6k 1.2×	2.3k 1.3×	87	9.4k
Judith F. Kroll United States	51	8.5k 1.7×	8.2k 2.1×	2.7k 1.1×	1.1k 0.5×	2.1k 1.2×	137	11.4k
Brian MacWhinney United States	55	8.0k 1.6×	10.4k 2.6×	4.2k 1.6×	3.2k 1.5×	4.3k 2.4×	239	17.3k
Jean M. Mandler United States	50	2.5k 0.5×	5.0k 1.3×	2.9k 1.1×	959 0.4×	915 0.5×	116	9.1k
David Caplan United States	53	10.1k 2.0×	7.6k 1.9×	2.8k 1.1×	1.1k 0.5×	1.7k 0.9×	215	12.8k
Tom Trabasso United States	38	2.2k 0.4×	5.3k 1.3×	2.2k 0.9×	1.6k 0.7×	742 0.4×	86	8.7k
Donald G. MacKay United States	35	3.7k 0.7×	2.6k 0.6×	2.0k 0.8×	639 0.3×	720 0.4×	119	5.6k
Maryellen C. MacDonald United States	39	5.2k 1.0×	4.5k 1.1×	1.7k 0.7×	1.5k 0.7×	1.8k 1.0×	92	7.1k

Countries citing papers authored by W. Nelson Francis

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of W. Nelson Francis's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by W. Nelson Francis with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites W. Nelson Francis more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by W. Nelson Francis

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by W. Nelson Francis. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by W. Nelson Francis. The network helps show where W. Nelson Francis may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of W. Nelson Francis

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of W. Nelson Francis. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of W. Nelson Francis based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with W. Nelson Francis. W. Nelson Francis is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

Francis, W. Nelson. (1997). Historical linguistics 1993 . Ed. by Henning Andersen. (Current issues in linguistic theory, 124.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1995. Pp. ix, 460.. Language. 73(1). 207–208. 40 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1997). The science of words . By George A. Miller Rev. edn. New York: Scientific American Library, 1996. Pp. ix, 276.. Language. 73(3). 583–584. 134 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1996). Things, thoughts, words, and actions: The problem of language in late eighteenth-century British rhetorical theory. By H. Lewis Ulman. Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1994. Pp. xi, 240.. Language. 72(1). 201–202. 17 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1995). Practical lexicography: Principles and methods of dictionary-making. By Bo Svensén. Translated from the Swedish by John Sykes and Kirsten Schofield. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp. xiii, 285. Cloth $60.00.. Language. 71(1). 211–212. 3 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1995). ‘Heartland English’ : Variation and transition in the American Midwest. Ed. by Timothy C. Frazer Tuscaloosa & London: University of Alabama Press, 1993. Pp. xi, 310. Cloth $27.95.. Language. 71(3). 640–641. 20 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1994). Text and technology: In honour of John Sinclair. Ed. by Mona Baker, Gill Francis and Elena Tognini-Bonelli. Philadelphia & Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1993. Pp. xii, 361.. Language. 70(4). 850–850. 182 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1993). Introduction to Early Modern English . By Manfred Görlach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xxix, 456. Cloth $79.50, paper $27.95.. Language. 69(1). 207–208. 60 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1993). The English infinitive . By Patrick J. Duffley (The English language series, 19.) London & New York: Longman, 1992. Pp. vi, 168.. Language. 69(4). 853–854. 49 indexed citations

Francis, W. Nelson. (1992). The London-Lund Corpus of Spoken English: Description and research. Edited by Jan Svartvik. (Lund studies in English 82.) Lund: Lund University Press, 1990. Pp. 350.. Language. 68(1). 196–199. 18 indexed citations

10.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1992). The alchemy of English: The spread, functions, and models of non-native Englishes. By Braj B. Kachru Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990 (1986). Pp. xii, 200. $12.95.. Language. 68(1). 231–232. 695 indexed citations breakdown →

11.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1990). Historical English: On the occasion of Karl Brunner's 100th birthday. Ed. By Manfred Markus. (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Anglistische Reihe Band 1.) Innsbruck: Institut für Anglistik, Universität Innsbruck, 1988. Pp. xi, 244. Cloth $23.00, paper $15.00.. Language. 66(1). 197–198. 6 indexed citations

12.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1989). Temporal adverbials in Old and Middle English . By Adam Pasicki. Lublin (Poland): Catholic University of Lublin, 1987. Pp. 340.. Language. 65(1). 189–189. 1 indexed citations

13.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1989). The computational analysis of English : A corpus-based approach. Ed. by Roger Garside, Geoffrey Leech, and Geoffrey Sampson. London and New York: Longman, 1987. Pp. xii, 196. $25.95.. Language. 65(2). 427–428. 134 indexed citations

14.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1989). Grammar and gender . By Dennis Baron. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986. Pp. ix, 249.. Language. 65(1). 176–177. 3 indexed citations

15.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1988). Word maps: A dialect atlas of England . By Clive Upton, Stewart Sanderson, and John Widdowson. London: Croom Helm, 1987. Pp. vii, 228.. Language. 64(4). 829–830. 7 indexed citations

16.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1988). Language variety in the South . Ed. by Michael B. Montgomery and Guy Bailey. Foreword by James B. MacMillan University, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1986. Pp. xi, 427. $29.95.. Language. 64(1). 202–203. 25 indexed citations

17.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1987). The politics of American English, 1776–1850. By David Simpson. Oxford: University Press, 1986. Pp. xi, 301. $24.95.. Language. 63(3). 674–675. 4 indexed citations

18.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1987). Language in a black community. By Viv Edwards. (Multilingual matters, 24.) Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1986. Pp. xii, 169. Cloth £19.90, paper £7.95.. Language. 63(1). 192–193. 30 indexed citations

19.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1986). The English language today . Ed. by Sidney Greenbaum. Oxford: Pergamon, 1985. Pp. xviii, 345. £12.50.. Language. 62(4). 942–943. 23 indexed citations

20.

Francis, W. Nelson. (1963). The history of English. W.W. Norton eBooks. 1 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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