The citation index: Another case of spurious validity

Citation indices potentially are very invalid because they are susceptible to manipulations and irrelevant weightings when utilized as indices of merit. The whole process of citing references is very idiosyncratic and a reflection of author biases because references can be cited on either side of any contention. On the basis of more than 30 years of editorial experience, a listing is made of ways in which eitation indices can be manipulated by factors irrelevant to merit. Genuine merit can be assessed only by long-term validity and predictive usefulness after many replications by independent studies.