Hidden dangers of a ‘citation culture’

Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics

Peter A. Todd¹  Richard J. Ladle¹ 

关键词: Bibliometrics;    Citation counts;    h-index;    g-index;    Assessment;    Scientists;   

DOI  :  10.3354/esep00091

来源: Inter-Research Science Publisher

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: The influence of the journal impact factor and the effect of a ‘citation culture’ on science and scientists have been discussed extensively (Lawrence 2007; Curr Biol 17:R583–585). Nevertheless, many still believe that the number of citations a paper receives provides some measure of its quality. This belief may be unfounded, however, as there are 2 substantial areas of error that can distort a citation count or any metric based on a citation count. One is the deliberate manipulation of the system by scientists trying to ensure the highest possible number of cites to their papers; this has been examined elsewhere (Lawrence 2003; Nature 422:259–261). The second area of inaccuracy is inherent to how papers are cited, indexed and searched for. It is this latter, lesser known, source of error that we will investigate here.

【 授权许可】

Unknown