An investigation of the validity of bibliographic citations

Abstract Edward O. Wilson, in his famous work, Sociobiology, The New Synthesis 9, makes reference to a pair of articles by W. D. Hamilton, but misquotes the articles' title. No less than 148 later papers make reference to both Wilson's book and Hamilton's articles, by title. Thus, there is provided an opportunity to test the charge, made by some critics, that writers frequently lift their bibliographic references from other publications without consulting the original sources. Although 23% of these citing papers made the same error as did Wilson, a further perusal of the evidence raises considerable doubt as to whether fraudulent use was intended.