The Dynamics of Remembering and Forgetting

Carlos Baquero and Rosa Cabecinhas consider how readers make assumptions about authors’ roles and relative contributions when reading papers. It is not unexpected that when reading papers, readers also make simplifications and have assumptions about author roles and relative contributions. Experts also observed that the success of a new work depends not only on its factual quality, but on the prior recognition of the author and its institution. Work done at more prestigious departments can diffuse more rapidly through the science networks. The bias that occurs both on author and institution recognition is now well-known and a justification for blind review mechanisms.