The dangers of citing papers you did not read or understand

Marco van de Weert; Lorenzo Stella

doi:10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.03.024

The dangers of citing papers you did not read or understand

Marco van de Weert^*, Lorenzo Stella

^*Corresponding author for this work

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

References in scientific papers play an important role in acknowledging prior work of others on the topic under investigation. Moreover, they are used to show the research is built on solid ground, carefully prepared by others. However, proper citation requires that one has read and understood the paper that is cited. We discuss an example of one of our own papers erroneously being cited in support of the interpretation of an equation, while we in reality demonstrated this interpretation is incorrect. This is likely a result of the citing authors not having read or understood the paper. We place this in a broader perspective, pointing to similar examples in other fields of science. Such improper citation practices can lead to perpetuation of false information, which is then incorrectly linked to scientists who in reality do not support the claims being made. We urge the scientific community to ensure the papers we cite fully support the statement we make, as references otherwise become meaningless.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM
Volume	1186
Pages (from-to)	102-103
Number of pages	2
ISSN	0166-1280
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.03.024
Publication status	Published - 15 Jun 2019

Keywords

Double log equation
Fluorescence spectroscopy
Ligand binding
Proper citation practices

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10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.03.024

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title = "The dangers of citing papers you did not read or understand",

abstract = "References in scientific papers play an important role in acknowledging prior work of others on the topic under investigation. Moreover, they are used to show the research is built on solid ground, carefully prepared by others. However, proper citation requires that one has read and understood the paper that is cited. We discuss an example of one of our own papers erroneously being cited in support of the interpretation of an equation, while we in reality demonstrated this interpretation is incorrect. This is likely a result of the citing authors not having read or understood the paper. We place this in a broader perspective, pointing to similar examples in other fields of science. Such improper citation practices can lead to perpetuation of false information, which is then incorrectly linked to scientists who in reality do not support the claims being made. We urge the scientific community to ensure the papers we cite fully support the statement we make, as references otherwise become meaningless.",

keywords = "Double log equation, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Ligand binding, Proper citation practices",

author = "{van de Weert}, Marco and Lorenzo Stella",

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T1 - The dangers of citing papers you did not read or understand

AU - van de Weert, Marco

AU - Stella, Lorenzo

PY - 2019/6/15

Y1 - 2019/6/15

N2 - References in scientific papers play an important role in acknowledging prior work of others on the topic under investigation. Moreover, they are used to show the research is built on solid ground, carefully prepared by others. However, proper citation requires that one has read and understood the paper that is cited. We discuss an example of one of our own papers erroneously being cited in support of the interpretation of an equation, while we in reality demonstrated this interpretation is incorrect. This is likely a result of the citing authors not having read or understood the paper. We place this in a broader perspective, pointing to similar examples in other fields of science. Such improper citation practices can lead to perpetuation of false information, which is then incorrectly linked to scientists who in reality do not support the claims being made. We urge the scientific community to ensure the papers we cite fully support the statement we make, as references otherwise become meaningless.

AB - References in scientific papers play an important role in acknowledging prior work of others on the topic under investigation. Moreover, they are used to show the research is built on solid ground, carefully prepared by others. However, proper citation requires that one has read and understood the paper that is cited. We discuss an example of one of our own papers erroneously being cited in support of the interpretation of an equation, while we in reality demonstrated this interpretation is incorrect. This is likely a result of the citing authors not having read or understood the paper. We place this in a broader perspective, pointing to similar examples in other fields of science. Such improper citation practices can lead to perpetuation of false information, which is then incorrectly linked to scientists who in reality do not support the claims being made. We urge the scientific community to ensure the papers we cite fully support the statement we make, as references otherwise become meaningless.

KW - Double log equation

KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy

KW - Ligand binding

KW - Proper citation practices

U2 - 10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.03.024

DO - 10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.03.024

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85063262122

SN - 0166-1280

VL - 1186

SP - 102

EP - 103

JO - Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM

JF - Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM

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The dangers of citing papers you did not read or understand

Abstract

Keywords

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