Why Do Some Articles in Planning Journals Get Cited More than Others?

Abstract

The planning literature has taken a recent interest in journal article citation counts, which are often used to measure the scholarly impact of articles, authors, or university departments. However, little is known about the factors that determine citation counts for planning-related articles. We find that citation counts in planning vary across planning topics and are also influenced by other journal, author, and article-related factors. We provide recommendations to planning researchers for increasing the impact of their research, and advise consumers of citation counts in planning to consider making particular adjustments to the counts to make them more meaningful.