While planning a clinical research and subsequently writing the
manuscript, scientific papers on the related subject are often retrieved
and articles in their reference lists are sought to search more relevant
literature. Occasionally it is very difficult to trace some of these
articles and almost impossible to access certain internet citations due
to various errors in citations by the authors. Many studies have been
conducted to assess the extent of this problem, and a variable frequency
of errors in writing the references has been reported [1-5]. Importance
of accuracy of citations and references in research publications cannot
be overstressed, given their role in leading the reader to the relevant
literature.
Every researcher who wishes to carry out and publish
authentic material needs to a) look for pre-existing literature
on subject; b) review and analyze the studies in the context of
the proposed research; c) evaluate, compare and/or contrast
existing information against the findings of his own results and explain
the differences; d) prepare a suitable manuscript for the target
audience; and e) acknowledge all sources of information, which
have been utilized in the preceding steps [6].
What are References?
The term ‘References’ is used for the list of sources
that have been accessed by the author and cited in the manuscript. This
could include journal articles, books or book chapters, monographs,
internet sites and other sources. On the other hand, the term
bibliography is the term commonly used for a list of sources of
information (e.g. books, articles, and internet sources) used to prepare
the manuscript, and it includes all the sources accessed even if they
have not been referred to in the manuscript.
Reference list is placed after the text of the
manuscript starting on a fresh page, whereas bibliography is not
provided with majority of journal articles.
Why References?
The author needs to introduce the research question
in view of the available literature on the subject, for which
pre-existing literature is the cornerstone of the argument. Moreover,
methodology used to carry out the research would include procedures and
other tools described previously by other authors, and would need to be
cited. Finally, results of the research need to be evaluated,
interpreted, and discussed in relation to the previously conducted
studies. These steps in preparation of the manuscript need literature
search, which when cited, become the part of the Reference-list of the
manuscript.
Apart from giving due credit to previous researchers,
the reference-list allows the readers to verify the methodology from the
original source. Moreover, the reader can evaluate the results in the
context of the cited literature and verify whether the authors have
interpreted and cited earlier studies correctly.
A complete reference list also makes it convenient
for the editorial board of the target journal to select and invite
reviewers for the manuscript as they refer to the reference list for
scientists with work in the relevant field. It may also help the editors
and reviewers to check for possible plagiarism from the cited sources of
information.
Where and How Many?
As a rule of thumb, literature should be cited
wherever the author has used the idea, methodology, data, figures or
diagrams from a previously published source. This could be in the
Introduction, Methodology, Tables, Figures, and Discussion of the
manuscript. It is essential to include key references relevant to the
study. Ignoring to cite consulted literature may amount to plagiarism.
Abstract and Results sections usually do not have any references.
Number of references to be cited should be in
accordance with the Author Guidelines issued by the target journal. Many
journals do not prescribe any limit of references for the research or
review papers but do have limits for certain sections like Case reports,
Correspondence and Images. Due to paucity of print space available, it
is advisable to use only the most relevant and recent references. Very
old references should be avoided as they may not be available to
reviewers and readers to access and read. It is not necessary to reach
the maximum limit if authors can convey the message with lesser number
of references.
When to organize the reference list: It has been
suggested that the authors should organize the reference list when the
manuscript is being organized [7]. This allows the author to: identify
which previously published article can be best cited in the manuscript;
rationalize the selection of the adequate references and avoid bias
towards one kind of viewpoint; and limit the number of references to
meet the requirements of the target journal.
Styles of References
Most medical literature uses two formats of
references i.e. Harvard style and the Vancouver style. Harvard
style is used by many journals of basic sciences and details on Harvard
Style can be accessed elsewhere [8]. Vancouver style [9] is followed by
most medical journals, including Indian Pediatrics. Basic
differences in two styles are summarized in Box 1.
Box 1
Differences in Vancouver Style and Harvard Style |
Vancouver style
• Sequential in-text citation; identified by
an Arabic number (in parentheses or superscript).
• Reference list: Numbered sequential list in
order of citation in text.
Harvard style
• In-text citation by authors name and year of
publication. Page numbers may be included for being more specific.
• Reference list: Alphabetical order without numbering
|
Vancouver Style
There are two components of citation: In-text
citation and the Reference list.
In-text citation
• All references are cited and numbered
sequentially as they are referred to in the text. If the reference
is cited in Table or figure, the citation number should be given
consecutive to that in the preceding text.
• If a source has been cited and identified by a
number, same should be used consecutively throughout the manuscript
if the same source is cited again.
• Numbers may be placed in parentheses or
superscript in accordance with the Journal policy.
• Identifying numbers are placed after
punctuation marks like full stops or commas, and before colons and
semi-colons [9]. However variations can be there in different
journals.
• If two or more sources are cited
simultaneously, they should be identified in chronological order
according to their date of publication by numbers separated by a
comma. They should be mentioned in chronological order with date of
publications
• If several consecutively numbered sources are
cited, hyphen should be used instead of comma; e.g. [3-6] instead of
[3,4,5,6] .
Reference list
Aim of the reference list is to provide complete
information for access of the cited source.
• The list is prepared in sequentially numbered
order in which the source has been cited in the text. Citation
number in the text and the list should match.
• Last name of the authors are written first
followed by the initials. If there are six or fewer authors, names
of all the authors are included. In case there are more than six
authors, names of first six authors are listed followed by et al.
• Abbreviated names of the most medical journals
are available in Pubmed’s Journal Database available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals. In case of a
non-medical Journal or that which is not available on PubMed, other
data bases or journal website can be looked.
• First letter of each author’s last name and
initials should be in capital letters without any intervening full
stops. Capital letters should also be used for the first letter of
the publication title, and all first letters of a place name and
publisher.
Method of citing common sources of information in the
Reference list has been shown in Box 2. Detailed
information on citing various sources of information is available on
National Library of Medicine [10] and is recommended by International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors [11]. There are minor variations
from the basic format as some journals expect full names of the
journals, name of the journal in italics, volume number in bold letters
etc. Therefore, it is necessary for authors to check the author
guidelines and give due attention while citing in the text and preparing
the reference list [12]. Editors appreciate these as it suggests that
the author has read the Instructions to Authors diligently.
|
Box 2 Citing References as per Vancouver
Style
Single Author
Mohta A. Common conditions in
Pediatric surgery. Indian J Pediatr. 2014;81:684-9.
Multiple Authors (less than six authors)
Falagas ME,
Korbila IP, Giannopoulou KP, Kondilis BK, Peppas G. Informed
consent: how much and what do patients understand. Am J Surg.
2009;198:420-35.
Multiple Authors (more than six authors)
Dillon P, Hammermeister K, Morrato E, Kempe A,
Oldham K, Moss L, et al. Developing a NSQIP module to measure
outcome in children’s surgical care: opportunity and challenge.
Semin Pediatr Surg. 2008;17:131-40.
Book
Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL.
editors. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery-The Biological Basis of Modern
Surgical Practice. 17th ed. Vol 1. New Delhi: Saunders; 2004.
Chapter in a Book
Argani P,
Beckwith JB. Renal neoplasms of childhood. In: Mills SE (Editor).
Sternberg’s Diagnostic
Surgical Pathology. 4th ed. Philadelphia:
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2004. p. 2029-30.
Internet Reference
World Health Organization. The World Health Report. Available
from: URL: http://who.int/whr/en/index.html. Accessed September 19,
2009.
|
Author Names
Citing the name of the authors correctly in text and
reference list is essential. Names of the authors should be taken from
the original publications. Only the last name of the author is cited in
the text without initials. If the cited paper has two authors, both
names may be cited e.g. Gupta and Chawla; if more than two authors are
listed, last name of the first author followed by ‘et al’ is
adequate.
Abbreviation of the names of the authors has been
discussed widely. Many errors appear in the names as we are not aware of
the pattern of writing the names. It is a common practice to write the
first name last in Chinese authors [13]. Similarly, in authors from
southern states of India, first name is the last word preceded by some
initials which may refer to the family name or that of the village. It
may be difficult to abbreviate the names. Some names may include special
characters or letters which again cause problems. Long names are
difficult to abbreviate. If the full name of the author is Lakshmi Kant
Radha Reddy, it can be abbreviated variously as Reddy LK, Reddy LR,
Radhareddy LK as per the perception of the author preparing the
manuscript. Similarly, spellings of Chaudhary can be also be written as
Chaudhury, Chowdhury, Choudhury etc; all of which shall not be available
in a single search in a database. If some scientist needs to retrieve
all the scientific work done by these authors, it will be impossible due
to incorrect abbreviation of name or misspelt last name [14]. Advice may
be taken from an author from same cultural background to correctly
abbreviate the name. Some journals give the citation to be used with
abbreviated names to avoid errors.
Sometimes the difference in the names of the authors
in various sources appears due to carelessness by the authors while
submitting their manuscripts. It has been seen that the name of same
author has been differently mentioned even in the credits of two papers
in the same issue of the journal [15]. Therefore it is incumbent on the
authors to check their full names correctly with desired abbreviated
names so as to prevent any errors.
Common Pitfalls
Although many authors take due care in preparation of
the reference list and exercise due diligence in verifying the same,
sometimes errors crop up in the citation in text as well as in the
reference list.
Errors in citation
(i) Citing a reference as a cross
reference and not reading the original article
(ii) Citing the same citation more than
once in a manuscript leading to duplication
(iii) Not identifying the in-text citation
as per the format of the target journal
(iv) Citing the name of the authors along
with the initials
(v) Pooling multiple citations at the end
of the sentence instead of insertion along with the referred fact
(vi) Citation in text without appropriate
entry in the reference list
(vii) Citing a reference after reading
only the abstract
(viii) Personal communications as
reference
(ix) Inclusion of references in Abstract
and Results section
Errors in reference list
(i) Not in the desired format of the
journal
(ii) Copied from another article without
direct verification from original article
(iii) Copied from scientific data bases
without reading the original article [16]
(iv) Errors in abbreviation of names of
authors, journal, page numbers, volume number etc.
(v) Error in number of authors listed
(vi) Inclusion of non-essential items like
issue number, or date and month of publication.
(vii) Submission of a previously rejected
article to new journal without modifying the citation and reference
list style in accordance with the new Journal.
(viii) Citation of print version while the
internet version has been accessed
(x) Inclusion of retracted references
Resources for Improving Citation and References
Reading the original article for citation and
inclusion in reference list as per the journal guidelines is the most
important requirement for accuracy. However, some assistance is
available for improving the same.
Many reference and citation management softwares are
available for scholars for recording and utilizing citations or
references. This can be used to reproduce the reference lists at more
than one occasion. Some of these softwares are EndNote, and Reference
Manager by Thomson Reuters; Papers and Readcube by Labvita; Mendeley by
Elsevier and Zotero [7].
Many professional Manuscript Submission Systems use
software to validate the uploaded references. If a reference cannot be
validated, authors need to verify the source of the same.
Conclusions
It is essential to cite the original literature
reviewed and used for preparation of the manuscript, and provide a
correct reference list. It acknowledges the previous researchers, and
also gives credence to your work. Due diligence exercised in citation
and preparation of the reference list makes the editors and reviewers
confident about the research and the manuscript. As the paper becomes
more credible, the readers are more convinced about the study and shall
be able to cite it with confidence. Although apparently taxing, efforts
made for citing and listing appropriate references may increase the
acceptability of the manuscript. The recent availability of reference
management software (e.g., Menedeley, Zotero) has made this work easier
to accomplish, though selecting the appropriate reference, and reading
thorugh it, is still the author’s responsibility.
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