Working Paper: NBER ID: w19489
Authors: Ginger Zhe Jin; Benjamin Jones; Susan Feng Lu; Brian Uzzi
Abstract: Teamwork pervades modern economies, yet teamwork can make individual roles difficult to ascertain. In the sciences, the canonical "Matthew Effect" suggests that eminent team members garner credit for great works at the expense of less eminent team members. We study this phenomenon in reverse, investigating how damaging events, article retractions, affect citations to the authors' prior publications. We find that retractions impose little citation penalty on eminent coauthors, but less eminent coauthors face substantial citation declines, especially when teamed with an eminent author. This asymmetry suggests a "Reverse Matthew Effect" for team-produced catastrophes. A Bayesian model provides a candidate interpretation.
Keywords: Teamwork; Eminence; Article Retraction; Citations; Matthew Effect
JEL Codes: J24; L15; L23; O3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| retraction event (Y60) | citation declines for less established coauthors (A14) |
| presence of eminent coauthor (Y70) | citation declines for less established coauthors (A14) |
| retraction event (Y60) | little or no citation consequences for eminent coauthors (A14) |
| eminent coauthors (B31) | protective effect on citation outcomes (A14) |