Detecting Reference Errors Before Publication

Abstract

Abstract : When conducting research, the author has become increasingly frustrated by citation and quotation errors. In a recently published book chapter, its author summarized a research study but cited a paper from a completely different study. This same author made citation errors within the reference list and obviously gleaned data from a secondary source without reading the original paper. As a result, the author questioned the accuracy of the entire chapter. Reference errors are not innocuous. Reference and quotation errors prolong the time needed to find a reference, damage an author's reputation, weaken a journal's credibility, disrespect the primary paper's author(s), and undermine clinical and research nursing literature. Furthermore, authors promulgate errors when they copy an inaccurate citation without verifying its content with the primary source. Investigators have confirmed the author's observations that reference errors are prevalent in nursing literature. Foreman and Kirchhoff (1987) were the first nurses to study the accuracy of reference citations. Using the lead article from the final 1983 issue of 65 clinical journal and 47 non-clinical journals, these investigators evaluated randomly selected references for accuracy. Reference errors occurred in 38.4% of the clinical journals and in 21.3% of the non-clinical journals. Schulmeister (1998) evaluated 60 published papers from three nursing journals and reported that 32% of 180 references contained citation errors. In a similar study of 262 references that were cited in three nursing research journals, Taylor (1998) reported an overall citation error rate of 45.8%. More recently, Lok, Chan, and Martinson (2001) reported that 43% of 550 references from 11 nursing journals contained citation errors. As a manuscript reviewer, the author now uses databases such as CINAHL or MEDLINE to check references. Seven strategies are presented to help nurse editors and reviewers detect errors before publication.