Unfortunately a citation, especially as a prestige or impact metric, carries associations of quality to observers outside its domain. A resource having been sel

Unfortunately a citation, especially as a prestige or impact metric, carries associations of quality to observers outside its domain. A resource having been selected for citation implicitly signals that it wad the best choice among a field of rival candidates, yet in many cases such as you describe the truth is that it is the _only_ such work available. This is especially problematic as some researchers build entire careers out of gatekeeping preprint access to unique, single- source primary data that only they or their lab/ staff can collect- not because of their superior ability to analyze it but because theirs is the only facility with the appropriate ensemble of apparatus on site or close at hand, or because they are the latest in a close-knit (often nepotistic) chain of custodians presiding over a certain exclusive primary source, such as a nature reserve or archaeological site.