Authors: Julianne Awrey Kenji Inaba Galinos Barmparas Gustavo Recinos Pedro G R Teixeira Linda S Chan Peep Talving Demetrios Demetriades
Publish Date: 2010/12/16
Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 475-479
Abstract
Reference inaccuracy in scientific articles brings the scientific validity of the research into question and may create difficulty when accessing the cited background data The objective of this study was to examine the reference accuracy in the general surgery literature and its correlation with the journal impact factorFive general surgery journals were chosen with varying impact factors From the year 2007 one issue was randomly chosen from each journal and from each issue 180 citations were randomly chosen for review Three investigators evaluated the chosen references for primary citational and quotational errors The impact factor of each journal was compared to the percentage of errors detectedThe total number of errors per journal ranged from 313 to 393 with a total of 354 of all citations reviewed containing some type of error The most common error type detected was incorrect citation of the primary source supporting a statement the incidence of which ranged from 138 to 252 depending on the journal and accounting for 536 of the total errors found Citational errors which included incorrect author names pagination dates and issue and volume numbers ranged from 18 to 181 and accounted for 204 of the total errors detected Qualitative errors which occurred when the author misquoted another author’s written assertions or conclusions ranged from 74 to 160 and accounted for 347 of the total errors detected Quantitative errors misquoted numerical data ranged from 31 to 86 and accounted for 179 of the total errors detected No association between impact factor and error rate was demonstratedReference inaccuracy is common in the general surgery literature The impact factor has no clear association with the error rate demonstrating that journal quality does not necessarily correlate with reference quality Further investigation into potential methods for improving reference accuracy in the general surgery literature is warranted
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