Status drives how we cite: Evidence from thousands of authors

TL;DR

This study reveals that a paper's citation type and influence are strongly driven by its status, with highly cited papers receiving more meaningful citations and influencing perceptions of quality.

Contribution

It provides systematic evidence that a paper's status affects both citation frequency and perceived quality, introducing a 'double status effect' in scholarly influence.

Findings

54% of citations denote little-to-no influence, mostly among low-status papers.

High-influence citations are concentrated among high-status, highly cited papers.

Hiding citation counts reduces perceived quality of low-status papers.

Abstract

Researchers cite works for a variety of reasons, including some having nothing to do with acknowledging influence. The distribution of different citation types in the literature, and which papers attract which types, is poorly understood. We investigate high-influence and low-influence citations and the mechanisms producing them using 17,154 ground-truth citation types provided via survey by 9,380 authors systematically sampled across academic fields. Overall, 54% of citations denote little-to-no influence and these citations are concentrated among low status (lightly cited) papers. In contrast, high-influence citations are concentrated among high status (highly cited) papers through a number of steps that resemble a pipeline. Authors discover highly cited papers earlier in their projects, more often through social contacts, and read them more closely. Papers' status, above and beyond any quality differences, directly helps determine their pipeline: experimentally revealing or hiding citation counts during the survey shows that low counts cause lowered perceptions of quality. Accounting for citation types thus reveals a "double status effect": in addition to affecting how often a work is cited, status affects how meaningfully it is cited. Consequently, highly cited papers are even more influential than their raw citation counts suggest.