Should it not be the citations of the paper as the proper basis for its worth?
The 'worth' of a research article is subjective. For the journals it is more of publishing interesting and new thinking pieces, pieces that bring science forward and might generate traction to their journal and content.
The amount of citations are more about the current focus of the field using the research piece. It might be a field with a lot of money going into it and a lot of researchers want to cite a certain work because it might provide information in a lucrative field.
Also consider that an article might not get many citations even if it is a new important find because it is located in a low-impact journal, or the opposite, an article might get a lot of citations because it is present in a high-impact journal and a lot of researchers happen to see it, even if its findings are not new.
In the end it is up to oneself to determine what the 'worth' of an article is and why.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Papers