SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 19, 205-221 (1990) Citation Counts and Social Comparisons: Scientists’ Use and Evaluation of Citation index Data LOWELL L. HARGENS University of Illinois AND HOWARD SCHUMAN University of Michigan Data from samples of biochemists and sociologists show that nearly all are familiar with citation indexes and that the two groups are equally likely to have used a citation index for bibliographic purposes. We develop three hypotheses from social comparison theory to account for variation in use and evaluation of citation counts as indicators of scientific achievement: (1) more highly cited scientists will more often use and more highly evaluate citation counts as in- dicators of scientific achievement than will less cited scientists, (2) these rela- tionships will be stronger for sociologists than for biochemists. and (3) sociologists as a whole will more often use and more highly evaluate citation counts than biochemists. Finally, among sociologists, we hypothesize that those primarily interested in quantitative research areas will use and favor citation counts more than those with primarily qualitative or theoretical interests. Our data support all but one of these hypotheses. We also report unexpected differences in use and evaluation of citation counts by sex and departmental prestige. o 199OAcademic Press. Inc. Academic scientists are ambivalent about attempts to measure schol- arly contributions. They often view such attempts negatively because they fear that using quantifiable characteristics to guage contributions leads to the distortion of research products. For example, widespread use of publication counts as a basis for promotion decisions is sometimes blamed for a deluge of trivial publications. Scientists see their research as craft work (Whitley, 1984:6-7), and many believe that using one or Send correspondence to Lowell Hargens, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. The authors shared equally in this research. Our work profited from the suggestions of Laura Klem and Barbara Reskin. 205 0049-089x/90 $3 .oo Copyright Q 1990 by Academic Press. Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.