Counting footnotes: Citability in management studies

SummaryThe primary purpose of academic citation, at least in Management Studies, is citation analysis. So much hangs on citation analysis as an indicator of academic performance – careers, funding, institutional survival – that papers are written as platforms for citation rather than to be read. To satisfy the requirements of referees, editors, and publishers, a paper must be, above all else, citable. This paper investigates the citation practices of some of the top authors of some of the top papers in some of the top journals of Management Studies. It finds citation by an elite of an elite for an elite. This is generally seen as evidence of the disciplinary strength of Management Studies. We interpret the evidence differently; we see convergence on papers that are citable. We consider what makes a paper citable. Most important of all is that the paper is cited by others.