In 2005, Kosfeld et al. claimed that 'Oxytocin increases trust in humans'. Nature published their research, and this study quickly became a centerpiece for media outlets and pop science narratives revolving around human trust. Citations skyrocketed, funders rallied behind the study, and researchers were eager to build upon what seemed like groundbreaking results...
If you scroll back to anything published by Elsevier or other publishers just 20 years ago, almost 100% of the URL references in the articles are affected by link rot or content drift (Klein et al., 2014). This means we either can't access this content, or it is significantly changed from its original, cited version.
Academia currently runs on metrics. Or, more precisely, it runs on variations of just one metric - citations. The h-index is based on citations. The impact factor is based on citations. Article influence scores are based on citations. University and department rankings depend on citations. And well… citations are based on citations.
We're excited to be moving on to our second season of the Future of Science! Season one was packed with in depth conversations and new discoveries about where we might be headed. To catch up - read below the fold.
