Bradford's distribution: from the classical bibliometric “law” to the more general stochastic models

The significant qualitative shift from the conventional conceptual framework within which the Bradford distribution has usually been considered begins by attempting to bring it to a par with some well-known distributions and laws within and outside bibliometrics. This article outlines some of the important tendencies that helped this development, focusing on those oriented toward more fundamental problems such as the implementation of general models that can explain the process by which the Bradford and the related distributions are generated. Shifting of the focus and scope to these issues represents a strong current tendency, though some of the basic assumptions regarding this had been advanced about 50 years ago. The reasons for their slow implementation in the research concepts are also discussed.