Earning Citations through Excellent Scientific Research

Earning Citations through Excellent Scientific Research
Although there is considerable disagreement among scientists as to the validity of measuring the impact and importance of research articles according to the number of citations they earn, there can be no denying that citations currently play a central role in the success of scientists, journals and research institutions alike. The scientific performance of all three is judged, assessed and ranked on the basis of citations, while employment, promotions, funding and intellectual prestige in the sciences are often dependent on citation numbers. Citation success is therefore essential for many publishing scientists, but how can it be achieved?

Well, no legitimate method or approach can guarantee that a scientist’s articles will be highly cited, but establishing and maintaining research excellence is an effective policy which will also result in a body of accomplished and useful scholarship even if the citation numbers desired are never quite reached. Research excellence is far from simple to achieve, however, and involves a combination of principles and practices. A primary concern should be establishing and developing significant research topics and questions that are of particular interest to a large number of your colleagues (your most obvious readers) at the very time that you are conducting and publishing your research. Consciously seeking to influence those colleagues through your writing by changing how they think and therefore the nature of their future research is central to the passion, confidence and ambition that inform the best research, and most scholars will cite the articles that inspire such intellectual changes. The way in which your research is presented is equally important: even the most significant and potentially influential research will not garner a large audience or be highly cited if the paper reporting it is disorganised, dull and poorly written. Instead, clarity and logic should prevail, and you should aim to seize and hold the attention of readers with compelling arguments and memorable conclusions. Finally, persistence is often of more value than brilliance, so sustaining your efforts to produce fresh, excellent and citable scholarship over the course of a long project or entire career is imperative. Any one paper can do exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly in terms of citations, after all, and sometimes for reasons beyond the author’s control, whereas a collection of high-quality articles that are of considerable interest to their target audience(s) is a more reliable and lasting means to being well cited.

One of the most wonderful aspects of pursuing those desired citations through achieving research excellence instead of through more questionable practices such as participating in citation rings and producing papers more exciting than they are substantial is that the scientist is free to focus on and improve the research he or she loves while making not only a positive difference within a subject area, but also a meaningful contribution to scientific knowledge.