Citation counts reinforce the influence of highly cited papers and nudge us towards undervaluing those with fewer.

In the context of everyday research assessment citation counts are often taken as a simple indicator of the influence of any particular paper. However, all citations are not the same and can be deployed to achieve different ends. Commenting on a recent study of how researchers across 15 academic fields understand the influence of the work cited in their research Eamon Duede shows how citation plays a role both in indicating and shaping the influence of research papers.