Piyush Gupta, Mukesh Yadav, Anup Mohta* and Panna
Choudhury**
From the Departments of Pediatrics and Surgery*,
University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi-110 095
and Department of Pediatrics**, Maulana Azad Medical College
and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi 110 002, India.
Correspondence to: Dr. Piyush Gupta, Block R-6-A,
Dilshad Garden, Near Telephone Exchange,
Delhi 110 095, India. E-mail:
[email protected]
Manuscript received: May 5, 2004, Initial review
completed: July 19, 2004;
Revision accepted: July 23, 2004.
Abstract:
To determine the accuracy of references
published in Indian Pediatrics, we reviewed the reference lists
appended to the original articles published in Indian Pediatrics
during the year 2002 (volume 39) for citation and quotation
accuracy. A total of 176 references out of 322 cited in 17
original articles could be retrieved from available resources.
Errors of citation were found in 69 (39.2%) references while
errors of quotation were found in 15 (8.6%) references. The most
common errors were those in the name of authors and title of the
article. Contributors should make serious efforts to check the
accuracy of the references cited in their manuscripts.
Key words: Citation, Error rate, Indian Pediatrics,
Quotation, Reference.
References are an integral part of manuscripts
published in scientific journals. They serve as an important tool in
providing credibility to the published literature and help in retrieval
of the cited and related information. To be useful, references need to
be cited and quoted correctly. References are akin to mortar, which not
only binds the bricks together in a wall but also lends it the most
vital things, i.e., strength and durability.
Inaccurate references reflect poorly on the authors
and also hinder search for additional sources of reading. There are two
types of reference errors: (a) when the information allowing
identification of the source is incorrect (authors’ names, article
title, journal name, etc.), this is an error of citation;
and (b) when the referenced statement does not reflect the
content of its source, this is an error of quotation.
Indian Pediatrics publishes over 25 manuscripts in
each issue, citing 250-300 references between them. The journal does not
have any full time editorial staff to verify cited articles. Reviewers
are not expected to verify each reference from the original source.
Doing this exercise at the editorial or office level is not only
impractical but would also increase the editorial load leading to
publication delay. Thus, the prime responsibility of checking the
accuracy of references in the journal articles rests with the authors.
Several reports of errors in citation and quotation have been noted in
different journals belonging to different specialities(1-11).
Satyanarayana and Ratnakar in 1989 reported an error rate ranging from
10-90% in 7 selected Indian journals(12). In the recent years, none of
the indexed Indian journals has attempted a dissection of its own
reference lists, in a holistic manner. This study was conducted to find
the error rate in citation and quotation in original articles published
in Indian Pediatrics over a period of one year.
Subjects and Methods
We examined all of the 12 issues of Indian Pediatrics
from year 2002 (Volume 39). Only original articles were chosen for
review in each selected issue. Lists of references appended to each of
these articles were retrieved and combined into a single list, beginning
with those from the first original article of January 2002 issue and
ending with the last original article of December 2002. References to
non-journal items such as books, book chapters, monographs,
dissertations, electronic websites, proceedings of the scientific
meetings, dictionaries, and references in journals not found in Index
Medicus were excluded because of limitations on their retrieval. For the
remaining references, original of each was located from the library.
Those not available in the library were acquired from the publishers or
the original authors.
Verifying accuracy of citation: Each article,
thus retrieved in original was compared to the citation in reference
list in respect of each of the following elements: (i) name of
the authors including spelling, initials, order and number; (ii)
title of the article including spelling and punctuation; (iii)
journal including correct abbreviation as listed in Index Medicus; (iv)
year; (v) volume and supplement indicator, if applicable and (vi)
page numbers including first and last page number as per the guidelines
for authors issued by Indian Pediatrics. A citation form was utilized to
enter the above items. A citation was labeled as incorrect if there was
an error in any of the above elements.
Citation errors were classified as major or minor.
Major citation errors were defined as those which prevented
immediate location of the article cited and included incorrect or
omitted volume or supplement number, year of publication and inaccurate
pagination not overlying the correct pages. Originals of references with
major errors could be retrieved following their identification using
other parts of the citation and PubMed search engine. Minor citation
errors did not prevent location of the article and included omission
or inaccuracy in the name, order or number of co-authors, abbreviated or
incomplete article title and incorrect pagination that overlapped the
correct page numbers.
Verifying accuracy of quotation: All the articles
retrieved in original were also checked for their contents and whether
these were quoted correctly in the original articles from Volume 39 of
Indian Pediatrics. The errors of quotation were identified by a
consensus of all authors and classified in two categories: (a)
irrelevant where the reference quoted does not relate to the
assertion made by the author and (b) distorted where the
fact in the original reference has been distorted and quoted in the
paper. These two types of errors can also be labeled as major and minor
quotation error, respectively. Whenever a reference was quoted more than
once, all statements were checked.
Verifying sequencing of references in text and
reference list. All the original articles in 12 issues of Indian
Pediatrics 2002 were also examined for following two items; (i)
whether bibliography given at the end of the text was in correct serial
number; and (ii) whether the references were quoted in the same
serial order in the text, in which they were numbered in the reference
list.
Results
A total of 17 original articles were published during
2002. These articles cited 322 references in all. Of these, 242 met our
inclusion criteria. We were able to locate the original papers of 176 of
these references, which formed the basis of this study. Overall, 122
errors could be identified in 84 (47.7%) references.
Errors of citation were found in 69 (39.2%)
references. Major errors were identified in 3 (3.2%) citations. In 2 of
these, the journal name was missing; and in the third, year, volume and
page number were wrong. A total of 104 minor errors were found in 66
(37.5%) references. The frequency of distribution of these errors in
each element of citation is shown in Fig 1. Errors were most
common in authors’ names (31.6%); followed by those in title (10.8%),
Journal name (9.7%), pagination (3.4%), volume (2.8%) and year (1.7%).
Minor errors in one item were found in 51 references, error in two items
in 18, three items in three references and four items in two references.
There was no reference with error in all the elements.
|
Fig. 1. Distribution of minor citation errors
in different bibliographic elements. |
Errors of quotation were identified in 15 out of 176
(8.6%) references. Of these, 3 quotations were not relevant to context;
while in other 12, the quotations were distorted. Details of errors in
quotation are depicted in Table I.
Only one error was detected in the sequencing of
references in text and/or in the reference list of the 17 original
articles published in Indian Pediatrics 2002.
Discussion
Inaccuracy of references, both in citation and
quotation, continues to plague the scientific publications in medical
journals of different specialties. Many studies carried out have found
variable rates of errors of citation and quotation. The error rate in
citation in these studies varied from 8 to 66.7%. In a recent article,
Vargas-Origel, et al.(11) compared the accuracy of references in
4 main pediatric journals, i.e., Acta Paediatrica, Archives of
Diseases in Childhood, Journal of Pediatrics and Pediatrics. The overall
error rate was 29.7% with major errors occurring in only 2% references.
The error rate in original articles of Indian Pediatrics is definitely
higher than other pediatric journals, and is a cause of concern.
However, most of the errors in Indian Pediatrics are minor citation
errors; major citation error rate is comparable with that of other
journals. Comparison of quotation errors with another pediatric journal
was not possible due to lack of studies. Journals of other specialities
have reported errors of quotations in 15-45% references(1,2,4,6). Errors
of quotation are more significant academically and usually mislead the
reader and make them accept ‘untruth’.
Our data is based on only original articles, thus it
is possible that our results are positively skewed. Of the 17 original
articles selected for this study, all were from teaching institutions in
7 major cities, where retrieval of a cited reference is easier due to
better library and other communication facilities. We are sure that the
error rate would have been much higher had we included the other
categories of articles. Generally, authors are much more careful with
their original research papers as compared to case reports or letters to
the editors.
Table I reflects the careless handling of
reference quotation by the authors. It would appear that in most
instances, the author(s) have not read the quoted article at all. They
might have used a cross-reference from another article, textbook or
on-line database. In this electronic era, abstracts of all articles are
available online, while the full-text access is limited and a cost is
involved. A general tendency of the author is to just read the title and
abstract without verifying the contents from the full text. This needs
to be discouraged.
TABLE I
Errors of Quotation in Indian Pediatrics.
Assertion made by authors |
Impression of the quoted study |
A. Irrelevant
quotations |
|
1. Bioavailability of
iron from breast milk is high before 6 months of age. |
Usefulness of serum
ferritin as a sole criterion of iron deficiency is limited. |
2.
Hard activity in third trimester did not influence the fundal
height, abdominal girth or gestation.
|
The
quoted article is about infant mortality and congenital
malformations in relation to intrauterine growth retardation.
|
3. Referred to a
questionnaire including pre-validated criteria for diagnosis of
bronchial asthma
|
The quoted article was
about the effect of environment and passive smoking on respiratory
health of children. (? Cross-reference used) |
B. Distorted
quotations |
|
1. Non-selective
agonist may be a better choice for treating WRTI than a selective
beta agonist. |
The quoted study
compares a non-selective agonist (adrenaline) against a placebo
and NOT a selective beta agonist. |
2. Clinical diagnosis
of bronchiolitis is defined as ............. |
The definition
suggested in the article is not exactly the same as quoted. |
3. Causes for
postnatal drip include allergic, non-allergic, post-infectious,
vasomotor,
sinusitis and environmental irritants. |
Postnasal drip is
incriminated as a cause of chronic persistent cough.
|
4. Delayed clamping of
cord at birth is suggested a possible strategy to prevent
anemia in 4-11 month old infants. |
This letter highlights
the probable utility of delayed clamping of cord for reducing
anemia at 2-5 years of age. (? Cross reference used). |
5. Comment on
relationship of atopic disorder with infectious diseases.
|
Comments on
relationship of atopic disorder with toxic environment, diet and
antioxidant changes. |
6. FDA found it
necessary to instruct medical
practitioners not to co-administer Hib
vaccine from the same syringe as DTP
vaccine containing acellular pertussis
component. |
FDA found that a
combination vaccine TriHIBit, which has an acellular pertussis
component, might not protect fully against Hib.
|
7. In the present
study, bacterial etiology of
pneumonia was established in 47.5% by
blood culture. This was slightly higher than
reported earlier. |
Blood culture was
positive in only 23% cases which was much lower than quoted.
|
8. Despite endorsement
of recommendation by IAP, financial constraints have delayed
implementation of hepatitis B vaccine on a
national basis. |
Financial constraints
not implicated for delayed implementation in the IAP
recommendations.
|
9. Factors influencing
auxiological outcome
and subgroup of patients that do not benefit
from GnRH therapy remain unclear. |
Conclusions do not
match the quotation.
|
10. In some studies,
treatment with agents like cyproterone acetate and short acting
GnRH analogues preceded the use of GnRH
analogue. |
In the quoted study,
treatment was given with long acting GnRH such as triptorelin or
leuprolide.
|
11. Features of
precocious puberty and menarche were restored after a period of
1.2 + 0.5 year following interruption of GnRH analogue therapy.
This is similar to other studies. |
This study treated for
6 years and did not interrupt treatment or looked at the effects
thereafter.
|
12. Triad of wheezing,
paroxysmal cough and decreased air entry was seen in 35% of our T
cases as compared to 39% in other study. |
The quoted study is a
case report of 3 cases only. hus figure of 39% is fallacious.
|
Various suggestions have been given to reduce the
inaccuracy in references. Vargas-Origel, et al.(11) suggested
limiting the number of references and submission of the first page of
the article cited to verify the reference. Eichorn and Yankauer(2) had
earlier observed increased error rates with increased number of
references. However, subsequently other studies established that the
error rate is independent of the number of references(4,6). On the
contrary, limiting the number of references might force the authors to
omit some important references. Submission of the first page of the
cited article is desired by some journals like Canadian Journal of
Anesthesia but in a study conducted by McLellan, et al.(5),
number of errors in Canadian Journal of Anesthesia was similar to that
in other Journals. We could not ascertain whether the requirement of
first page of the cited article was practiced before the study or
introduced later.
Recently, many journals have linked their publication
process with Medline, so that the reference list is automatically linked
and checked with the citation in the electronic database. This system
also is not foolproof; moreover, it skips checking of citations from
non-indexed journals, books, conference proceedings, monographs, etc.
PubMed lists only two initials of the authors’ name and citation
using this source may also induce error.
It is generally accepted that the primary
responsibility of checking the accuracy of references lies with the
authors, especially the senior author. The authors should read the
original article before quoting it rather than citing from abstracts or
cross-references; this might perpetuate an error committed by the
author(s) of the previous article. Finally, authors should utilize the
galley proofs as a final frontier to countercheck any transcription
errors arising out of the editing or printing process.
Contributors: PG and PC conceived and designed
the study. MY listed, retrieved and abstracted the data. AM drafted the
article, which was edited by PG and PC. All authors approved the final
manuscript. MY also helped in study design and interpretation of
results. PG shall act as guarantor.
Funding: None
Competing interests: PG and PC are Associate
editor and Editor-in-Chief of Indian Pediatrics, respectively. They do
not stand to gain financially by a decline in the error rate of
references cited and quoted in Indian Pediatrics.
References |
• Errors of citation and quotation were found in 69 (39.2%) and
15 (8.6%) references, respectively, appended to 17 original
articles published in Indian Pediatrics during the year 2002.
• Authors need to be more careful in checking the accuracy of
the references in their manuscripts.
|
|