• DOI:10.1007/s11948-009-9115-8
• Corpus ID: 10079415

On the Ethics of Using Citation Indices in Evaluations

@article{Spier2009OnTE,
  title={On the Ethics of Using Citation Indices in Evaluations},
  author={Raymond E. Spier},
  journal={Science and Engineering Ethics},
  year={2009},
  volume={15},
  pages={1-2}
}

• R. Spier
• Published 4 February 2009
• Education
• Science and Engineering Ethics

As dogma has it; the more a paper is cited the better it is. Is it? Papers in which there has been reason to question the experimental outcomes may be highly cited as interested parties seek to use such papers as examples of how not to behave. Two examples are the papers on cold fusion by M. Fleischmann and S. Pons in 1989 (391 citations) (Fleischmann et al. 1989) and on the memory of water by J. Benveniste in 1988 (225 citations) (Davenas et al. 1988) when a solution of an antibody is diluted to levels that probably do not contain any antibody molecules. In the context of evaluating the worth of a particular paper it is well to note that there are many approaches that can be used. Does the paper report a discovery that leads to a valued product? Does the paper refute a hypothesis that is misleading? Does the paper provide understandings that unite a body of otherwise disparate knowledge? These questions are obvious. Conversely, we may have to consider the value of a paper that may be treated as insignificant at first sight but after a lengthy ‘incubation’ may stimulate researchers to achieve great and highly valued discoveries and products. The first papers in the areas of liquid crystals and lasers may be said to be of this nature. In any analysis of citation data it is clear that in areas where there is great interest there are many research grants, journals, institutions and support and hence papers reporting on research in such areas are more liable to be highly cited. In areas where the topics are highly specialised there are correspondingly fewer citations—so to a first approximation citations do not evaluate the papers in an area but they are an index of the popularity of an area itself. Another reason for being cited more extensively is if the discovery reported fits into the developing jigsaw made up of bits of understanding leading to the appreciation of how a receptor works or how a cell walks. Again it is clear that if a researcher is working in the area of curing diseases (therapy) there are many more people working in this area than there are in