A concept reproduces whenever it is cited, taught, copied, adapted, institutionalised or applied. Repetition is necessary for public knowledge, but it can become an industry in which numerical expansion substitutes for conceptual difference. RecurrenceMass names the authority produced when frequency is mistaken for explanatory strength. SelfMimesis describes a field reproducing itself through accepted formats, methods and citation rituals because resemblance maximises admission. Academic publishing, architectural typologies and policy vocabularies all reveal the same paradox: novelty is declared through increasingly standardised forms, while prestige and visibility attract further prestige and visibility. Reproduction should be audited by distinguishing recurrence from difference. A new version may verify, synthesise, translate, teach or expose an anomaly; another may merely substitute a case, dataset or specialised title while preserving the same conclusion. CitationalCommitment provides an ethical counterprinciple: citation should reveal dependence and make the assembly of an argument inspectable rather than function as ceremonial compliance. Mature fields also require consolidation, negative results, correction and permission to stop. Reproduction becomes mutation when variation changes the concept's function rather than its appearance. At that threshold the copy no longer merely extends the recognised form; it begins to belong to another regime of use.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Homo Academicus.
de Solla Price, D.J. (1963) Little Science, Big Science.
Garfield, E. (1979) Citation Indexing.
Kuhn, T.S. (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Merton, R.K. (1968) The Matthew Effect in Science.
Waters, L. (2004) Enemies of Promise.
Wouters, P. et al. (2015) The Metric Tide.
