From Stuart Henderson
I suggest an alternative to “truth decay” in explaining the half-life of citations (22 September, p 36). New lines of research that give hope of a breakthrough attract many researchers, who then publish on them. Over time, progress generally slows and the breakthrough fails to happen, so researchers switch in droves to the next hot topic.
The papers then cease to be cited, not because the results have been falsified, but because, like old pop songs no longer played on the radio, they have merely gone out of fashion.
Canberra, Australia
