Indeed, if only Google Scholar is a trustworthy instrument in such matters, we clearly see that the number of references to the notorious "Mind in Society" has been continuously rising from 1979 until 2013. Yet, 2014 appears to be the break point: this was the first year when the number of quotes to this source slightly declined. Curiously, the number of quotes to another "Vygotskian star" -- cumulative quotes to the publications actually authored by Michael Cole -- also started its decline. This might suggest that what we experiencing now is the transition from the "Vygotsky boom" to the phase of the "Vygotsky bubble" that has already started shrinking and continues do so right at this very point.
Curiously, the disappointment with the "Vygotsky cult" has been explicitly expressed a lot of times from early 1980s up to now, and the phrase seems to have been first pronounced as early as 1991 (the credits go to Sheldon White). Yet, it took another "revolution" to be first openly stated in a publication of 2012 along with a series of critical studies of 2010s for the dramatic change to really take place. These studies were summarized in a most recent book project: Yasnitsky, A. & van der Veer, R. (Eds.) (2015/2016). Revisionist Revolution in Vygotsky Studies. London and New York: Routledge, -- followed by another one: Yasnitsky, A., van der Veer, R., Aguilar, E. & García, L.N. (Eds.) (
Yet, chances are that the trend might still reverse, which makes the whole game of guessing the future even more exciting and breath-taking. So, the bets are still accepted, and the question is: Will this year of 2015 continue the declining trend in the number of quotes to "Mind in Society" (whoever actually wrote it) and, by extension, the references to the cumulative published output by Michael Cole, in which his :) "Mind in Society" consistently comprises more than a half, if Google Scholar is to be trusted.
For the sake of curiosity, Google Scholar quote numbers will be monitored, recorded here, and updated on a regular basis. Only the decade of 2010s will be indicated in the table, below. Yet, the sources for the measurements are all online.
"Mind in Society": https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=djqLs50AAAAJ&citation_for_view=djqLs50AAAAJ:umqufdRvDiIC
Michael Cole: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=djqLs50AAAAJ&hl=en
So, this is what we have as of today, [update:]
"Mind in Society":
Date/Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
31.12.2016 | 4424 | 4801 | 5227 | 5542 | 5585 | 5681 | 4582 |
20.12.2016 | 4423 | 4799 | 5218 | 5534 | 5576 | 5669 | 4450 |
10.12.2016 | 4416 | 4789 | 5189 | 5525 | 5569 | 5655 | 4288 |
30.11.2016 | 4416 | 4788 | 5178 | 5522 | 5566 | 5648 | 4171 |
20.11.2016 | 4414 | 4788 | 5175 | 5517 | 5560 | 5632 | 4004 |
10.11.2016 | 4416 | 4788 | 5175 | 5516 | 5556 | 5617 | 3917 |
31.10.2016 | 4412 | 4783 | 5169 | 5503 | 5547 | 5606 | 3774 |
20.10.2016 | 4409 | 4781 | 5164 | 5499 | 5540 | 5594 | 3655 |
10.10.2016 | 4404 | 4781 | 5161 | 5493 | 5536 | 5583 | 3571 |
30.09.2016 | 4403 | 4778 | 5163 | 5490 | 5530 | 5566 | 3449 |
20.09.2016 | 4401 | 4775 | 5146 | 5486 | 5526 | 5550 | 3313 |
10.09.2016 | 4395 | 4775 | 5145 | 5480 | 5518 | 5533 | 3183 |
31.08.2016 | 4393 | 4772 | 5143 | 5480 | 5516 | 5522 | 3073 |
20.08.2016 | 4391 | 4769 | 5138 | 5475 | 5511 | 5511 | 2913 |
10.08.2016 | 4389 | 4768 | 5133 | 5466 | 5504 | 5501 | 2808 |
31.07.2016 | 4381 | 4761 | 5123 | 5457 | 5482 | 5479 | 2679 |
20.07.2016 | 4377 | 4754 | 5119 | 5454 | 5479 | 5466 | 2553 |
10.07.2016 | 4374 | 4746 | 5119 | 5453 | 5478 | 5451 | 2401 |
30.06.2016 | 4368 | 4740 | 5104 | 5447 | 5468 | 5424 | 2248 |
20.06.2016 | 4363 | 4737 | 5102 | 5443 | 5467 | 5416 | 2127 |
10.06.2016 | 4327 | 4645 | 5019 | 5360 | 5342 | 5397 | 1758 |
31.05.2016 | 4299 | 4619 | 4966 | 5306 | 5251 | 5288 | 1595 |
20.05.2016 | 4291 | 4616 | 4949 | 5295 | 5237 | 5226 | 1392 |
10.05.2016 | 4292 | 4612 | 4947 | 5295 | 5232 | 5197 | 1262 |
30.04.2016 | 4292 | 4607 | 4943 | 5285 | 5224 | 5163 | 1131 |
20.04.2016 | 4287 | 4602 | 4936 | 5278 | 5206 | 5116 | 1012 |
10.04.2016 | 4286 | 4606 | 4937 | 5284 | 5206 | 5085 | 911 |
31.03.2016 | 4272 | 4590 | 4914 | 5267 | 5178 | 5015 | 824 |
20.03.2016 | 4283 | 4603 | 4927 | 5273 | 5195 | 4987 | 715 |
10.03.2016 | 4282 | 4599 | 4925 | 5269 | 5190 | 4953 | 636 |
29.02.2016 | 4273 | 4589 | 4911 | 5254 | 5172 | 4916 | 549 |
20.02.2016 | 4265 | 4584 | 4899 | 5243 | 5165 | 4874 | 484 |
10.02.2016 | 4251 | 4565 | 4879 | 5227 | 5125 | 4807 | 405 |
31.01.2016 | 4215 | 4524 | 4826 | 5246 | 5181 | 4467 | 246 |
20.01.2016 | 4213 | 4524 | 4822 | 5239 | 5182 | 4372 | 188 |
10.01.2016 | 4212 | 4525 | 4813 | 5242 | 5179 | 4372 | 128 |
31.12.2015 | 4207 | 4520 | 4807 | 5228 | 5170 | 4294 | -- |
20.12.2015 | 4204 | 4514 | 4804 | 5219 | 5149 | 4137 | -- |
10.12.2015 | 4202 | 4512 | 4802 | 5215 | 5143 | 3956 | -- |
30.11.2015 | 4196 | 4508 | 4805 | 5210 | 5125 | 3883 | -- |
20.11.2015 | 4194 | 4503 | 4800 | 5205 | 5112 | 3732 | -- |
10.11.2015 | 4189 | 4506 | 4795 | 5201 | 5106 | 3627 | -- |
03.11.2015 | 4187 | 4503 | 4799 | 5200 | 5093 | 3580 | -- |
Michael Cole (including "Mind in Society" references, for comparison see the table above):
Date/Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
31.12.2016 | 7634 | 8406 | 9224 | 9924 | 10095 | 10623 | 9057 |
20.12.2016 | 7623 | 8398 | 9206 | 9910 | 10073 | 10599 | 8806 |
10.12.2016 | 7607 | 8383 | 9155 | 9890 | 10041 | 10539 | 8424 |
30.11.2016 | 7598 | 8369 | 9119 | 9874 | 10016 | 10503 | 8137 |
20.11.2016 | 7599 | 8380 | 9130 | 9883 | 10015 | 10489 | 7849 |
10.11.2016 | 7603 | 8381 | 9131 | 9875 | 10004 | 10464 | 7675 |
31.10.2016 | 7600 | 8368 | 9117 | 9857 | 9997 | 10449 | 7398 |
20.10.2016 | 7592 | 8365 | 9108 | 9854 | 9981 | 10417 | 7117 |
10.10.2016 | 7585 | 8360 | 9109 | 9847 | 9973 | 10388 | 6924 |
30.09.2016 | 7582 | 8356 | 9104 | 9836 | 9955 | 10357 | 6658 |
20.09.2016 | 7579 | 8354 | 9077 | 9812 | 9945 | 10324 | 6387 |
10.09.2016 | 7573 | 8359 | 9069 | 9801 | 9929 | 10294 | 6118 |
31.08.2016 | 7566 | 8354 | 9067 | 9800 | 9925 | 10276 | 5916 |
20.08.2016 | 7562 | 8343 | 9056 | 9793 | 9907 | 10245 | 5591 |
10.08.2016 | 7563 | 8337 | 9049 | 9778 | 9896 | 10227 | 5377 |
31.07.2016 | 7541 | 8313 | 9030 | 9745 | 9853 | 10188 | 5132 |
20.07.2016 | 7536 | 8302 | 9023 | 9739 | 9848 | 10159 | 4881 |
10.07.2016 | 7527 | 8289 | 9019 | 9733 | 9843 | 10119 | 4619 |
30.06.2016 | 7517 | 8274 | 8993 | 9723 | 9816 | 10072 | 4328 |
20.06.2016 | 7506 | 8266 | 8991 | 9710 | 9809 | 10036 | 4112 |
10.06.2016 | 7367 | 8053 | 8810 | 9558 | 9541 | 9967 | 3323 |
31.05.2016 | 7303 | 7983 | 8709 | 9450 | 9380 | 9762 | 3021 |
20.05.2016 | 7142 | 7744 | 8398 | 9068 | 8944 | 9102 | 2526 |
10.05.2016 | 7118 | 7722 | 8378 | 9052 | 8918 | 9037 | 2297 |
30.04.2016 | 7117 | 7715 | 8375 | 9037 | 8899 | 8963 | 2077 |
20.04.2016 | 7114 | 7713 | 8367 | 9023 | 8874 | 8917 | 1893 |
10.04.2016 | 7114 | 7710 | 8372 | 9028 | 8869 | 8853 | 1700 |
31.03.2016 | 7097 | 7690 | 8346 | 9010 | 8835 | 8763 | 1549 |
20.03.2016 | 7105 | 7703 | 8358 | 9010 | 8849 | 8716 | 1329 |
10.03.2016 | 7103 | 7694 | 8350 | 9003 | 8842 | 8663 | 1196 |
29.02.2016 | 7090 | 7673 | 8311 | 8984 | 8812 | 8593 | 1031 |
20.02.2016 | 7076 | 7666 | 8285 | 8963 | 8799 | 8528 | 902 |
10.02.2016 | 7059 | 7640 | 8258 | 8937 | 8753 | 8423 | 759 |
31.01.2016 | 6903 | 7446 | 8027 | 8808 | 8790 | 7684 | 474 |
20.01.2016 | 6898 | 7445 | 8021 | 8801 | 8792 | 7580 | 367 |
10.01.2016 | 6897 | 7443 | 8009 | 8802 | 8791 | 7566 | 243 |
31.12.2015 | 6886 | 7436 | 7998 | 8781 | 8782 | 7430 | -- |
20.12.2015 | 6885 | 7428 | 7990 | 8767 | 8743 | 7174 | -- |
10.12.2015 | 6880 | 7417 | 7986 | 8753 | 8728 | 6900 | -- |
30.11.2015 | 6870 | 7410 | 7987 | 8743 | 8703 | 6737 | -- |
20.11.2015 | 6887 | 7401 | 7972 | 8740 | 8680 | 6507 | -- |
10.11.2015 | 6859 | 7403 | 7963 | 8732 | 8675 | 6324 | -- |
03.11.2015 | 6853 | 7398 | 7965 | 8726 | 8656 | 6194 | -- |
So, the question is: is there a new trend -- or not?
We will see that pretty soon :).
[Update of November 20, 2015] Besides, it is truly exciting to observe the amazing dynamics of GoogleScholar citing rate changes. Yet another piece of data to consider from the perspective of the question as to what extent GoogleScholar is useful and usable as a research tool in the studies of the kind...[/Update]
[Update of January 11, 2017] The update of the tables has been discontinued as of now and here. For the continued data update and statistics for the 2017 see a newer post at http://psyanimajournal.livejournal.com/15748.html