Meta-Research: How problematic citing practices distort science

Abstract

Citing practices constitute a core element in scientific research and communication in which they serve several important functions. They both comprise the principal unit of science’s social reward system and they establish epistemic genealogy, showing the foundations on which claims are built. Distorted or problematic citing behaviour can hence have major harmful consequences for the well-functioning of the scientific enterprise. In this article we employ a case study approach to show how, even in the field of research integrity, or more broadly, meta-research, researchers commonly adhere to suboptimal citing practices. Our findings highlight, among other shortcomings, an apparent lack of critical engagement with the cited literature, leading to incorrect reproductions of claims and overgeneralisation of supposed research findings. We link such problematic citing practices to the state of crisis that science is currently claimed to face, discussing how these practices might be both a symptom and a cause of these crises.

Authors 3

1. Serge P. J. M. Horbach corresponding Aachen Centre for Science and Technology Studies Faculty of Social Sciences

   Leiden University · Aarhus University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aarhus University , Department of Political Sciences , Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy , Bartholins Allé 7 , 8000 Aarhus C , Denmark

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) , Faculty of Social Sciences , Leiden University , Wassenaarseweg 62A , 2333 AL Leiden , The Netherlands

   Aarhus University, Department of Political Sciences, Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Bartholins Allé 7, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 62A, 2333 AL Leiden, The Netherlands

2. Kaare Aagaard

   Aarhus University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aarhus University, Department of Political Sciences, Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Bartholins Allé 7, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

3. Jesper Wiborg Schneider

   Aarhus University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aarhus University, Department of Political Sciences, Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Bartholins Allé 7, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark