‘Many-Citedness’: Citations Measure More than Just Scientific Impact

28 Pages Posted: 29 Jun 2017

Date Written: May 23, 2017

Abstract

Citation indexes are increasingly used to measure the scientific impact of researchers and institutions, though their application is often criticized. We study the network of citations of all publications indexed in Web of Science authored or coauthored by Italian tenured academic economists. We show that citations capture many factors other than mere scientific quality. By estimating the determinants of the probability that any author is cited by any other author, we find those factors to involve not only similarity in methods and topics but also, significantly, various measures of social community as well as of political proximity. Our analysis leads us to conclude that, at least in the case of economics, citations cannot be interpreted as mere proxies of scientific impact, and their use to produce indexes and rankings may require careful rethinking.

Keywords: citations, rankings, economics

JEL Classification: A14, I23, D85

Suggested Citation

D'Ippoliti, Carlo, ‘Many-Citedness’: Citations Measure More than Just Scientific Impact (May 23, 2017). Institute for New Economic Thinking Working Paper Series No. 57, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2993971 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2993971

Carlo D'Ippoliti (Contact Author)

Sapienza University of Rome ( email )

Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
Roma, Rome 00185
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.dss.uniroma1.it

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
119
Abstract Views
857
Rank
422,437
PlumX Metrics