How are the best <italic>JASIST</italic> papers cited?

This study compares the 45 “Best Paper” award articles with nonaward articles published in the <italic>Journal of Association for Information Science and Technology</italic> (<italic>JASIST</italic>) to observe the differences in citations. The results show that, in most cases, the citations of the award articles are more numerous than the median, belonging to the Top‐50% stratum. Only 15.6% of the award articles have the status of being the most‐cited article of the year in which the article was published; 24.4% belong to the Top‐5% stratum of the publication year; 44.4% belong to the Top‐10% stratum of the publication year; and 73.3% belong to the Top‐25% stratum of the publication year. Surprisingly, from 2000 to 2012, none of the award articles made it to the Top‐10% stratum, apart from the year 2004; the least‐cited award article received only three citations during a 5‐year period. The results show a wide range of citations among the Best <italic>JASIST</italic> Papers. This study also observes that the number of articles changed little from 1969 to 1995 but grew rapidly from 1996 to 2012. Suggestions for possible ways to better meet the challenges of the journal's growth in size and scope in selecting award articles are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]