track all later papers that then cite Dawkin’s writings, or in other words, all the other writers who found Dawkin’s ideas important. For some ideas, the number of citations will dwindle with every year; for others it will increase . . . .
Citation indexing has proved so useful in pinpointing erupting activity in science that it is used many times as a measure to decide where to fund research. Just pour your money into the hub of an expanding cluster. It also quickly became evident that it could be used to measure the significance of a scientist’s work . . . Citation levels as a factor in academic promotions is a very touchy subject.
