Scientometrics· 2026Q1
Citation accuracy, citation noise, and citation bias: a foundation of citation analysis
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
This paper introduces 'citation noise'—undesirable variance in citation decisions—as a critical, underexplored challenge in citation analysis, alongside citation accuracy and bias.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Citation analysis relies on the assumption of accurate citation decisions, but rhetorical citations or citing without reading compromise this.
- Citation noise, defined as undesirable variance in citation decisions, is presented as a critical, underexplored challenge alongside citation bias.
- Two types of citation noise are defined: citation level noise and citation pattern noise, with explanations of their origins and impact.
- The paper proposes a conceptual framework differentiating noise from accuracy and bias to strengthen the foundation of citation analysis.
- Strategies to minimize citation noise are discussed, with a recommendation for reform movements like CoARA to adopt them for responsible bibliometric indicator use.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract Citation analysis is widely used in research evaluation to assess the impact of scientific papers. These analyses rest on the assumption that citation decisions by authors are accurate, representing the flow of knowledge from cited to citing papers. However, in practice, researchers often cite for reasons that are not related to the fact that there has been (intellectual) input from previous papers. Citations made for rhetorical reasons or without reading the cited work compromise the value of citations as instrument for research evaluation. Past research on threats to the accuracy of citations has mainly focused on citation bias as the primary concern. In this paper, we argue that citation noise—the undesirable variance in citation decisions—represents an equally critical but underexplored challenge in citation analysis. We define and differentiate two types of citation noise: citation level noise and citation pattern noise. Each type of noise is described in terms of how it arises and the specific ways it can undermine the validity of citation-based research assessments. By conceptually differing citation noise from citation accuracy and citation bias, we propose a framework for the foundation of citation analysis. We discuss strategies and interventions to minimize citation noise, aiming to improve the reliability and validity of citation analysis in research evaluation. We recommend that the current professional reform movement in research evaluation such as the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) pick up these strategies and interventions as an additional building block for careful, responsible use of bibliometric indicators in research evaluation.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Scientometrics, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Statistics, Probability and UncertaintyDecision Sciences