"Citation cartels" -- a new phrase for me, but this story from Science lays out the known facts:

Piling up citations is a way of building reputation and thus attracting readers and viewers in a benevolent frame of mind.  I confess that (a) when I started reading this story, it seemed a little click-baity and I thought perhaps I should be suspicious but (b) when I saw that it was published in Science -- with all its prestige -- I decided that this was real and worth sharing.  I say this just to corroborate that we all make decisions how to extend our attention and credulity based on heuristics of one sort or another -- reputation, citation count, ease of access, etc.  Learning how to play to the public's heuristics is a valuable skill.

Jim O'Donnell

ASU