Authors and publicationshare
Date completeness and lifespan
Share of authors with both birth and death years, and the median lifespan of those who have them, by century.
98.4%of authors have both birth and death years
Key point
Of 1,248 authors, 1,240 have a birth year, 1,231 a death year and 1,228 (98.4%) both. Median lifespan is 65.5 years, from 57.5 (15th century) to 70 (18th). Of the 1,077 authors matched to the AKS person database (by name and birth year, or name and pen name) with a comparable death year, 1,035 (96.1%) agree.
- Formula
- Authors with both years / authors; median(death − birth)
- Caveats
- Uses the ITKC bibliographic years as given; agreement with the AKS person database is on the reliability card.
- External check
- Compared with the dates in the AKS person database.
- Reliability card
- exactExact count — read straight from the source XML
Compared with the dates in the AKS person database.
Of the 1,077 authors matched to the AKS person database (P1 by name and birth year, 1,101; P2 by name and pen name, 6) whose death year can be compared, 1,035 (96.1%) agree.
| Century | Authors | Birth known | Death known | Median lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9th century | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 12th century | 2 | 2 | 2 | 59 |
| 13th century | 7 | 7 | 7 | 66 |
| 14th century | 37 | 37 | 36 | 61 |
| 15th century | 104 | 104 | 102 | 58 |
| 16th century | 382 | 382 | 380 | 64 |
| 17th century | 353 | 353 | 351 | 64 |
| 18th century | 272 | 272 | 269 | 70 |
| 19th century | 82 | 82 | 81 | 68 |