Read before you cite!
M.V. Simkin, V.P. Roychowdhury (UCLA)
TL;DR
This paper introduces a stochastic model to estimate the proportion of citations where authors have actually read the cited paper, revealing that only about 20% of citers read the original work.
Contribution
It presents a novel probabilistic approach to assess whether citations are based on actual reading, supported by empirical misprint distribution analysis.
Findings
Approximately 20% of citers read the original paper
Misprint distributions in citations follow a Zipf law
The proposed model accurately estimates reading rates
Abstract
We report a method of estimating what percentage of people who cited a paper had actually read it. The method is based on a stochastic modeling of the citation process that explains empirical studies of misprint distributions in citations (which we show follows a Zipf law). Our estimate is only about 20% of citers read the original.
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