Rethinking the role of citations in peer review priorities: A perspective

Peer review is intended to assess the scientific quality of research based on its content, including the importance of the research question, appropriateness of methods, validity of the analysis, and strength of the evidence. Citations play an important role in this process by placing research in context, supporting scientific claims, and ensuring that relevant evidence is considered. Therefore, requests for additional, updated, or more appropriate references are often justified and can improve the quality of a manuscript. However, concerns arise when citation-related features such as the number of references, publication recency, or indexing status begin to influence judgments of scientific quality beyond their actual role in supporting the research. In such situations, these bibliographic characteristics may serve as quick indicators of quality instead of encouraging direct evaluation of the study itself. Evidence from peer review research suggests that manuscript assessment can be influenced by subjective judgment and practical decision-making under time constraints. This perspective discusses how excessive reliance on citation-related signals may unintentionally shift attention away from scientific reasoning and proposes practical recommendations to keep peer review focused on the quality of ideas, methods, and evidence.