Older articles are growing in impact

That is the conclusion from Alex Verstak et.al., here are some sentences to ponder:

…the impact of older articles has grown substantially over 1990-2013. In 2013, 36% of citations were to articles that are at least 10 years old; this fraction has grown 28% since 1990. The fraction of older citations increased over 1990-2013 for 7 out of 9 broad areas and 231 out of 261 subject categories. Second, the increase over the second half (2002-2013) was double the increase in the first half (1990-2001).

The full abstract and article is here.  For the pointer I thank Dan Getz.