Academics argue over how many people read and cite their papers (2014)
I think that <i>is</i> something worth investigating - because if it is true that 50% of all papers written never get an audience, then I would see that as a pretty major flaw in the way we do science. (As if we don&#x27;t have enough of those already...) I mean, many people having been saying for years now that the scientific community is much too focused on churning out papers, but this would take things a step further by saying that all those extra papers are essentially useless. And if they are indeed useless, then they represent a phenomenal waste of time and money that needs to be stopped ASAP.<p>(Personally I doubt those numbers, but I have no hard evidence to back that up.)