How status of research papers affects the way they are read and cited

•More than half of citations to academic papers reflect little-to-no intellectual influence on the authors citing them.•Citations to already highly cited papers are 2–3 more likely to reflect substantial intellectual influence.•A key mechanism is citations change perceptions of quality: displaying low citation counts makes papers appear to be of lower quality.•Papers with poor perceived quality are read more superficially and discovered later in the projects.