Quantifying the structural and temporal characteristics of negative links in signed citation networks

Highlights：

• We construct a signed network based on citation sentiment to identify negative links.

• Papers with different impacts have a similar probability of receiving negative citations.

• Negative citation behavior of a paper and its citation counts are unrelated.

• We reveal the temporal random rules and colocation patterns of negative citations.

• We find an association between negative citations and the impact of cited papers.