Citation Counts and Social Comparisons: Scientists’ Use and Evaluation of Citation index Data

Data from samples of biochemists and sociologists show that nearly all are familiar with citation indexes and that the two groups are equally likely to have used a citation index for bibliographic purposes. We develop three hypotheses from social comparison theory to account for variation in use and evaluation of citation counts as indicators of scientific achievement: (1) more highly cited scientists will more often use and more highly evaluate citation counts as indicators of scientific achievement than will less cited scientists, (2) these relationships will be stronger for sociologists than for biochemists. and (3) sociologists as a whole will more often use and more highly evaluate citation counts than biochemists. Finally, among sociologists, we hypothesize that those primarily interested in quantitative research areas will use and favor citation counts more than those with primarily qualitative or theoretical interests. Our data support all but one of these hypotheses. We also report unexpected differences in use and evaluation of citation counts by sex and departmental prestige. o 199OAcademic