Time to stop researching the important things?

From 2010 government funding for UK research will be based partly on metrics. One of the key metrics will be citations, with research income and postgraduate student numbers also assessed. While citation metrics seem sensible, there is a serious issue of what topics one researches, the methods used and the way in which a move to the use of citations will induce a change in research behaviour – especially a move to the dull middle ground. This paper investigates the potential impact of such a move on niche areas of IS research – here research on small- and medium-sized enterprises. However, the arguments hold for any new, emerging, or non-mainstream research area. The impacts of citation metrics on publication outlets and research method choice are assessed.