Citation and the Hidden Authority

Abstract

The aim of this article is to critical investigate a trend that has been escalating during the last 15 years to evaluate scientific by quantitative measurements called bibliometrics. These large-scale-measurements either substitute or supplement evaluation performed by colleagues qualified as specialists in a certain field of research. The so-called citation indexes count as one among other measurements. The whole idea is that our scientific work is evaluated in accordance with the amount of citations you get from other writers or from the citation impact ascribed to the journals of your written text. After a short presentation of the growing field of bibliometric devices with special focus on citation indexes, the author will examine some ideas of the political and economic reasons for these changes in academia.

To strengthen the critical stance towards bibliometrics the question will be raised of what counts as good scientific practice including citations contrasting this with the use of citation in bibliometrics. As part of this concluding discussion the question of authority will be raised and it will be argued that we may look at these new tendencies in scientific practice as a new kind of authority. Taking the word liquid from Zygman Baumann´s term liquid modernity the term liquid authority will be introduced.