I've come across quite a bit of anecdotal evidence as blog posts (Damn it, can't find the links now) and scientists will often confess to being biased about pre

I've come across quite a bit of anecdotal evidence as blog posts (Damn it, can't find the links now) and scientists will often confess to being biased about prestige while reading articles. It's also probably the reason why mathematical papers do not print author affiliations at the front of the paper (they are listed at the back). It's simply a matter of choosing where to invest your scarce time. A paper from prestigious authors/affiliation presumably has a better chance of being worth your time. So such papers get more attention and hence more citations, even if they might not have been the most novel or the most comprehensive. The same also applies to papers in high impact factor journals where citations have some kind of a positive feedback loop.