Quotational and Reference Accuracy in Surgical Journals

Fifty randomly selected references from a single monthly issue of TheAmerican Journal of Surgery; Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics; and Surgerywere evaluated for citation and quotation errors. Thirteen major and 41 minor citation errors were found in the three journals. Thirty-seven major quotation errors were identified. The data support the hypothesis that authors do not check their references or may not even read them. This hypothesis may be expanded to maintain that reviewers do not check references. (JAMA. 1990;263:1353-1354)