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For instance, in science, the movie industry, music, and art, the occurrence of the highest impact work and a hot streak within a creative career are very difficult to predict. Are there domains that are more prone to luck than others? Here, we provide new insights on the role of randomness in impact in creative careers in two ways: (i)\u00a0we systematically untangle luck and individual ability to generate impact in the movie, music, and book industries, and in science, and compare the luck factor between these fields; (ii)\u00a0we show the surprising presence of randomness in the relationship between collaboration networks and timing of career hits. Taken together, our analysis suggests that luck consistently affects career impact across all considered sectors and improves our understanding in pinpointing the key elements in driving success.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1140\/epjds\/s13688-020-00227-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]],"date-time":"2020-04-28T13:04:19Z","timestamp":1588079059000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":48,"title":["Success and luck in creative careers"],"prefix":"10.1140","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9690-6119","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mil\u00e1n","family":"Janosov","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9646-6232","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Federico","family":"Battiston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7558-1028","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberta","family":"Sinatra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"227_CR1","volume-title":"Age and achievement","author":"HC Lehman","year":"1953","unstructured":"Lehman HC (1953) Age and achievement. 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