Down with High Citation Counts

Abstract

It is noted that of two papers written by Milton Friedman at about the same time and making very much the same case, one is better than the other on all counts, yet cited far less often. It is suggested that this shows that a high citation count of a paper does not indicate its quality on any reasonable understanding of that characteristic. It is further suggested that the picture is suggestive of the highly-cited paper being cited by some for not better reason than it has been cited by others. If that is correct, then far from showing the influence or importance of a paper, high citation counts then do not even provide reliable evidence of its having been much read.

Keywords

• Phillips curve
• Friedman (Milton)
• citation counts
• impact factors