> or maybe you misunderstood when I said "say, within 5 years of your PhD"? It sounds more like I misunderstood when you wrote "you haven't had time for citati

> or maybe you misunderstood when I said "say, within 5 years of your PhD"? It sounds more like I misunderstood when you wrote "you haven't had time for citations to accumulate, and journal name really is the important thing." Your example above combines journal citations with place-of-publication, which makes more sense than one important item. And lets face it, there have been some real whoppers in Nature. Jan Hendrik Schön comes to mind. So to your example: I can think of only a single situation in which a last-year-item of any quality affected a decision. The likely answer to your question is that neither of the candidates would be hired, at least at the best institutions.