There is a scholarly field occupied with the concept of citation and reference. It is called bibliometrics. The tl:dr is that citations are a very complex socia

There is a scholarly field occupied with the concept of citation and reference. It is called bibliometrics. The tl:dr is that citations are a very complex social phenomenon, which is difficult to describe fully even in the semi structured confinements of scientific literature. Both technical and, even more pressing, theoretical developments are needed before measuring "effective" citations could become anywhere near feasible.