Citation indicators and scientific relevance: Genealogy of a representation

Abstract

This article analyzes the association between citation indicators and scientific relevance as social representations supported by assumptions formulated and consolidated during the second half of the twentieth century. Looked at as a recent problem in Latin America, this association loses the weight of the processes which have historically configured this construction. Using certain concepts of Bourdieu, Even-Zohar, and Moscovici, this paper proposes to investigate what were the political and economic processes which historically contributed to this representation and which aspects are present in the currently used citation indicators. Claiming that citation indicators are a form of evaluating scientific knowledge generates a distortion of the system of values which relegates conceptual ecosystems, innovative themes that are little dealt with, and stimulates remaining within already highly populated areas to ensure citation.