Citation False Practices in the Library and Information Science Theses: A Case Study of Shodhganga ETD Database

Abstract

Citations symbolize the conceptual association of scientific ideas published by researchers and authors. By the references they cite in their papers, authors make explicit linkages between the current research and prior work in the universe of scientific literature. The practice of citing has been there for a long time. A form of citation index was first found in 12th century Hebrew religious literature. The present study has been conducted using Shodhganga, one of the most popular theses and dissertations databases in India. The study was conducted to assess the use of popular style guides in Library and Information science theses, as library fraternity are known to be well versed with the style guides. The study was conducted by downloading the theses submitted by the departments of Library and Information Science of seven state universities in Karnataka. There are a total of 208 theses uploaded onto Shodhganga ETD database. The results show that the department of LIS, Karnatak University, Dharwad, has uploaded 89 theses. A total of 1000 referencing faults were found. 136 theses used American Psychological Association (APA) and 72 theses used Chicago reference styles. There were 32.73% spelling mistakes (mostly in the titles and headings), 25.45% numbering and 41.82% mentioning year faults found among all the theses. On a whole, it is found that theses from Karnatak University, Dharwad have more number of both intexts as well as end-text referencing faults.