Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  1999 May;42(5):1059-1064.

Reference Accuracy in Major Korean Journals in Obstetrics and Gynecology

• Mo HJ
• Kim YT
• Kim JU

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of references in articles published in four major Korean journals in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
METHODS
All articles for the year 1997 of Korean Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korean Journal of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy, Korean Journal of Perinatology, and Korean Journal of Fertility and Sterility were examined. 60 articles[15 articles per journal] were randomly selected. Each reference was verified either from the original source or from other indexing tools if the original was unavailable. Reference accuracy in the selected articles was evaluated and types of citation errors were analyzed.
RESULTS
The references from 60 articles were 1264, and 1060 references were evaluated for reference accuracy. Overall rate of inaccurate reference was 56.0%. The lowest inaccuracy rate was 52.6% from Korean Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the highest was 58.8% from Korean Journal of Perinatology. The rate of reference inaccuracy was 58.3% in foreign references and 35.0% in domestic references. The types of citation errors were ranked as followed : inaccurate author, 302[50.8%]; inaccurate title, 300[50.5%]; inaccurate journal, 90[15.2%]; inaccurate page, 45[7.6%]; inaccurate volume, 43[7.2%]; inaccurate year, 18[3%].
CONCLUSION
This study showed that rate of inaccurate reference in four major Korean journals in Obstetrics and Gynecology was fairly high. It is necessary that contributors and editors should make more efforts to enhance the reference accuracy.

Keyword

Reference accuracy; citation error

MeSH Terms

Abstracting and Indexing as Topic
Colposcopy
Fertility
Gynecology*
Infertility
Obstetrics*
Perinatology