The incidence and role of negative citations in science
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Catalini-2015-The incidence and ro.pdf
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820.94 KB
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Author(s)
Oettl, Alexander
Catalini, Christian
Lacetera, Nicola
Date Issued
November 2015
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Citation
Catalini, Christian, Nicola Lacetera, and Alexander Oettl. “The Incidence and Role of Negative Citations in Science.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112, no. 45 (October 26, 2015): 13823-13826.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Citations to previous literature are extensively used to measure the quality and diffusion of knowledge. However, we know little about the different ways in which a study can be cited; in particular, are papers cited to point out their merits or their flaws? We elaborated a methodology to characterize “negative” citations using bibliometric data and natural language processing. We found that negative citations concerned higher-quality papers, were focused on a study’s findings rather than theories or methods, and originated from scholars who were closer to the authors of the focal paper in terms of discipline and social distance, but not geographically. Receiving a negative citation was also associated with a slightly faster decline in citations to the paper in the long run.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502280112
