Thank you all for your replies. I feel this is relevant: http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~baffa/fun/sycophant.gif

My supervisor talks about Impact Factors constantly. I often have my work edited to include 'big' names in the field. Is this common? Should I be worried that this is not 'good science', or should I be happy that my supervisor is training me to be a strategist?

How do you deal with situations where a person constantly name drops and attempts to appear impressive via this route? I'm curious because I have noticed quite a few students doing this on my masters course and I feel it impedes the development positive working relationships. How do you 'manage' such situations?