In this article, I suggest that an overreliance on analytics to assess faculty productivity and the diffusion of ideas may inadvertently suppress innovation. Even when these productivity-diffusion metrics are used to promote an individual’s work, the use of such external guideposts may bias scientific choices and curb a psychological scientist’s earnest inclination to synthesize or take scientific risks. Analytics are not inert but can change the path and progress of science itself, potentially reducing the diversity of ideas in psychological science. This potential harm may most affect new scholars at the beginning of their independent research careers.
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