Past, Present, and Future of Citation Practices in HCI

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Oppenlaender, Jonas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Oppenlaender, Jonas
author_facet Oppenlaender, Jonas
contents Science is a complex system comprised of many scientists who individually make decisions that, due to the size and nature of the academic system, largely do not affect the system as a whole. However, certain decisions at the meso-level of research communities, such as the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community, may result in deep and long-lasting behavioral changes in scientists. In this article, we provide empirical evidence on how a change in editorial policies introduced at the ACM CHI Conference in 2016 destabilized the CHI research community and launched it on an expansive path, denoted by a year-by-year increase in the mean number of references included in CHI articles. If this near-linear trend continues undisrupted, an article at CHI 2030 will include on average almost 130 references. The trend toward more citations reflects a citation culture where quantity is prioritized over quality, contributing to both author and peer reviewer fatigue. Our exploratory analysis highlights the profound impact of meso-level policy adjustments on the evolution of scientific fields and disciplines, urging all stakeholders to carefully consider the broader implications of such changes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_16526
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Past, Present, and Future of Citation Practices in HCI
Oppenlaender, Jonas
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Digital Libraries
H.5.m; A.0
Science is a complex system comprised of many scientists who individually make decisions that, due to the size and nature of the academic system, largely do not affect the system as a whole. However, certain decisions at the meso-level of research communities, such as the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community, may result in deep and long-lasting behavioral changes in scientists. In this article, we provide empirical evidence on how a change in editorial policies introduced at the ACM CHI Conference in 2016 destabilized the CHI research community and launched it on an expansive path, denoted by a year-by-year increase in the mean number of references included in CHI articles. If this near-linear trend continues undisrupted, an article at CHI 2030 will include on average almost 130 references. The trend toward more citations reflects a citation culture where quantity is prioritized over quality, contributing to both author and peer reviewer fatigue. Our exploratory analysis highlights the profound impact of meso-level policy adjustments on the evolution of scientific fields and disciplines, urging all stakeholders to carefully consider the broader implications of such changes.
title Past, Present, and Future of Citation Practices in HCI
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Digital Libraries
H.5.m; A.0
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.16526