Your 1000x citation counts don't matter

The dirty truth behind citation counts and impact

Jul 30, 2024

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An academic dressed in a lab coat and glasses, diving headfirst into a large vault filled with thousands of research papers, similar to how a millionaire would dive into a vault of money. The vault has open doors, and the papers are flying around, creating a sense of abundance.

You've probably heard it a million times: citation count is the ultimate measure of a paper's importance. But is it really? Let's peel back the layers of this pickled little onion and see what's lurking beneath its surface. Spoiler alert: It's not Sauerkraut.

I get weirded out whenever people boast about their citation count (but I do it myself online and definitely catch flag for it when I do). Because this is how the system works. Citations mean impact. No doubt. But do they measure what’s actually advancing the field? How could a paper be highly cited yet not be particularly valuable? Is that possible (sure hope that's not the case with my papers)? This thought spawned this newsletter issue.

After digging into the literature a bit and talking to other seasoned researchers, I've come up with some insights that might just change the way you think about citations and research impact.

Ready to challenge some assumptions? Let's crack our heels on these cobblestones.

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