How click-bait was transformed into “fact” through poor academic referencing practices

Introducing my new white paper - Myth busted: most academic research DOES get cited

Anne-Wil Harzing - Tue 25 Nov 2025 10:57 (updated Tue 25 Nov 2025 11:33)

"Urban legends are not just fascinating, entertaining, and colorful stories; they are also a part of our social communicative repertoire. When we lose them, we have to find other things to talk about, which are most likely not as funny, engaging, or bridge building as urban legends” (Rekdal, 2014a: 649).

High expatriate failure rates (Harzing, 1995, 2002), ant extinctions (Wetterer, 2006), the iron-content of spinach (Rekdal, 2014a), sinking sheep (Rekdal, 2014b), and sky-high levels of uncited academic articles (Hamilton, 1990/1991, Meho, 2007) are all examples of academic urban legends, stories that many academics believe to be true but largely are not. In my white paper - Myth busted: most academic research DOES get cited - I focus on the last of these lores, i.e. the claim that most academic research doesn’t get cited.

This particular urban legend is more than an amusing story; it is a dangerous misconception. Continued promulgation of this myth is likely to decimate trust in our academic research, especially in the current political climate. In my white paper I’ll show that – to a large extent – this myth is of our own making, created through poor academic referencing practices. Hence, in order to restore trust in our academic research, we need to stop seeing referencing as a boring chore, and instead put accurate, complete, and relevant referencing to reliable sources centre stage in our writing.

Short summary

In this white paper I investigate a commonly circulated “truth” about citations, namely that most of our academic articles never get cited and thus have negligible impact. Three source articles for this myth provide estimates of uncitedness that run from about half of all articles and three quarters of articles in Business & Management to a whopping 90%. Over the past 35 years, these figures have been reiterated both in academic publications and – more recently – on social media, often joined by an explicit or implicit assessment that most of what we do as academics is worthless.

I launch a case for the defence of Science that follows three avenues: situational (uncitedness depends on a wide range of factors), empirical (recent studies show uncitedness is very low), and fundamental (uncitedness doesn’t equate to a lack of worth). I show – with consistent, abundant, and rigorous evidence – that there is absolutely no ground for concluding that uncitedness is a major problem in academic research.

Hence, just like I demonstrated in 1995 for expatriate failure rates (see also: What's the story behind your first paper?), we can label the existence of high levels of uncitedness a myth. However, by continuing to cite – in our own academic work – the dubious articles that formed the basis of the myth for high uncitedness and largely ignoring – or even misrepresenting – the articles that debunked this myth, we have transformed click-bait into “fact”.

Following my 12 guidelines for good academic referencing (see below) may help to prevent myth creation. As academics let’s at least try to be critical when evaluating evidence, assess it without prejudice, and report it accurately, precisely, and comprehensively. If we give up on these fundamental academic values because a piece of evidence suits our academic agenda, we are no better than conspiracy theorists. And if we do so, we are actually confirming their prejudices that experts are not to be believed. Do we really want to contribute to our own demise as academics?

Myth busted: most academic research DOES get cited is a very long white paper running to nearly 20,000 words and 40 single-spaced pages. Hence, I have included a detailed Table of Contents below, allowing readers to ump to individual sections. However, for the best effect I suggest you at least scan the other sections.

Introduction

The case for the prosecution: most academic articles are not cited (and worthless)

The case for the defence (of Science): most articles are cited or have other impact

The verdict: click-bait transformed into “facts” through poor academic referencing

Why do we as academics keep believing the myth?

Conclusion

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Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.

Anne-Wil Harzing's profile and contact details >>

How click-bait was transformed into “fact” through poor academic referencing practices

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