Citation Impact

Here we examine academia as it relates to categorizations of race, power, and citation. We look at all forms of marginalized identity in academia, working toward a broader, but inextricably interconnected, web of social justice issues.

In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have been calling on academics to acknowledge the inequities in citational practices, and to pay more attention to research and work from groups that are usually under-cited (Kwon, 2022, “The Rise of Citational Justice,” Nature).

Citation Impact and Neutrality

It is important to realize that Citations are not neutral – there are politics which underly who is cited, and who is not, and therefore who has access to these platforms.  

Citation politics refers to the exclusion of, and discrimination against the work and voices of marginalized communities of scholars, in scholarship and publication. This exclusion can lead to inequities in scholarly citations, or citation gaps.

As a scholar at any level, even as students – who you cite matters!

Watch this video that speaks to how the research tools that we use sometimes support problematic citation bias, how to become aware of this, and what to do about it

Ultimate Study Hacks, "Does Google have Citation Bias?" 2025