Reference accuracy in library and information science journals

Purpose – This paper aims to determine the percentage of reference errors and type of errors in four library and information science (LIS) journals. Design/methodology/approach – Research articles from issues published in 2007 were selected for analysis. The references were compared to online freely available tables of contents. The errors identified were categorised into six elements: journal title; author(s); article title; publication year; volume; and page numbers. Findings – The highest percentage of reference errors was 49.1 percent ( Information and Management ). The overall error rates were: author (56 percent), page number (22 percent), article title (15 percent), volume (3 percent), publication year (2 percent) and journal title (2 percent). Research limitations/implications – The tables of contents (ToCs) used to compare the article references may not have correctly recorded the article details. Not all journal references could be reviewed as not all journal ToCs are available online. This one year, 2007, may not accurately reflect the citation accuracy of the journal in other years. This study did not differentiate between errors that would prevent the location of the article and those that could still be located with perseverance. Practical implications – Error rates in these LIS journals are considerable. The current method of authors being responsible for the references is not resulting in accurate bibliographic information. Originality/value – Based on the findings, possible solutions are suggested that could improve the accuracy of references.