How do authors perceive the way their work is cited? Findings from a large-scale survey on quotation accuracy

Abstract

It has long been recognized that there are issues with the appropriateness of citations in the academic literature. Citations of sources that do not support the statement they are cited against are known as quotation errors, and there have been many previous studies of their prevalence. The vast majority of these studies rely on researchers evaluating the accuracy of citations in a small sample of the literature, and show large variation in quotation error rates. In this article we report a novel approach to assessing quotation accuracy via an online survey in which 2648 corresponding authors of articles evaluated a real-world citation of their work. Respondents were also asked to categorize the perceived purpose of the citation, and what action, if any, they take when encountering inaccurate citations of their work. We found a quotation error rate of 16.6%, with no significant difference across academic disciplines, suggesting that variation in previous studies may be a result of methodological differences. Only 11.3% of respondents indicated they had taken action after encountering an inaccurate citation of their work. This work reveals reasons contributing to inaccurate quotations and issues with citation practices, and offers suggestions of areas for future research.