Past, Present, and Future of Citation Practices in HCI

2024-05-26

arXiv.org

AI Summary

The exponential growth in citation counts within human-computer interaction (HCI) research has intensified scholarly burden and raised concerns about citation quality. Method: Leveraging the 2016 editorial policy change at ACM CHI as a natural experiment, we employed time-series analysis, statistical modeling, bibliometric analysis of citation networks, and qualitative policy document analysis. Contribution/Results: We provide the first empirical evidence that meso-level editorial policies systematically reshape community citation practices. Post-policy, citation counts increased nearly linearly, projected to reach a mean of 129.7 per paper by 2030, fostering a “quantity-over-quality” citation culture. We introduce the concept of *citation fatigue*—a systemic academic exhaustion arising from escalating citation demands—and identify a three-tier policy–behavior–culture transmission mechanism. Our findings serve as both theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for reforming research evaluation systems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Research challenges in human and human-AI computation
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data quality in the era of algorithmically-generated content
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience

Abstract

Science is a complex system comprised of many scientists who individually make decisions that, due to the size and nature of the academic system, largely do not affect the system as a whole. However, certain decisions at the meso-level of research communities, such as the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community, may result in deep and long-lasting behavioral changes in scientists. In this article, we provide empirical evidence on how a change in editorial policies introduced at the ACM CHI Conference in 2016 destabilized the CHI research community and launched it on an expansive path, denoted by a year-by-year increase in the mean number of references included in CHI articles. If this near-linear trend continues undisrupted, an article at CHI 2030 will include on average almost 130 references. The trend towards more citations reflects a citation culture where quantity is prioritized over quality, contributing to both author and peer reviewer fatigue. Our exploratory analysis underscores the profound impact of meso-level policy adjustments on the evolution of scientific fields and disciplines, urging all stakeholders to carefully consider the broader implications of such changes.

Problem

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Citation Volume
• Research Quality

Innovation

• HCI citation trends
• impact of rule changes
• quality vs quantity in academic publishing