`Many-citedness`: Citations Measure More Than Just Scientific Impact

Carlo D’Ippoliti ()
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Carlo D’Ippoliti: Sapienza University of Rome
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Carlo D'Ippoliti

No 57, Working Papers Series from Institute for New Economic Thinking

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 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 D85 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2017-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:thk:wpaper:57

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2993971

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