Where you publish matters most: A multilevel analysis of factors affecting citations of internet studies

This study explores the factors influencing citations to Internet studies by assessing the relative explanatory power of three perspectives: normative theory, the social constructivist approach, and a natural growth mechanism. Using data on 7,700+ articles of Internet studies published in 100+ Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)‐listed journals in 2000–2009, the study adopted a multilevel model to disentangle the impact between article‐ and journal‐level factors on citations. This research strategy resulted in a number of both expected and surprising findings. The primary determinants for citations are found to be journal‐level factors, accounting for 14% of the variances in citations of Internet studies. The impact of some, if not all, article‐level factors on citations are moderated by journal‐level factors. Internet studies, like studies in other areas (e.g., management, demography, and ecology), are cited more for rhetorical purposes, as suggested by the social constructivist approach, rather than as a form of reward, as argued by normative theory. The impact of time on citations varies across journals, which creates a growing “citation gap” for Internet studies published in journals with different characteristics.