abstract:The half-life of knowledge is the amount of time that has to elapse before half of the knowledge in a particular area is superseded or shown to be untrue. The concept is attributed to Fritz Machlup (1962).
Theproliferationofscholarlysources in the masscommunicationfieldadds to the informationexplosion that routinely abbreviates the usefulhalf-lifeof knowledgethroughout thediscipline.