Accuracy of References in Five Entomology Journals.

ln this paper, the bibliographical references in five core entomology journals are examined for citation accuracy in order to determine if the error rates are similar. Every reference printed in each journal's first issue of 1992 was examined, and these were compared to the original (cited) publications, if possible, in order to determine the accuracy of the reference. Percentage of total errors was calculated for each journal, and the errors were sorted by type, such as an error in an author's name or in pagination. The study focused on the following research questions: (1) "What percentage of citation errors typically occur in the most cited entomology periodical literature? Overall, are the references in these entomology journals more or less accurate than those in medical and library science journals?"; (2) "What types of errors typically occur, and how do they compare with results of other studies?"; and (3) "What types of publications do authors make the most mistakes in citing?" It was found that, on average, 30 percent of citations in the journals contained one or more errors. Most of the errors appeared in journal article titles, with article author names and pagination errors being the second and third most frequent. Some types of errors occurred very infrequently; these included: journal title, volume, page and year omissions, and book publication year omissions. Out of the 49 articles in the 5 journal issues examined, only 3 articles had completely error-free reference lists. (Contains 24 references.) (AEF)