Scientific citation is an integral element of any research paper. Proper citation is important to ensure the clarity, reliability, and academic integrity of the research. It is also one of the requirements for successful publication in journals from international scientometric databases such as Scopus and Web of Science.
What is citation?
Citation is the process of referencing the work of another researcher in your own research. This can be done by inserting a quote from a text, figure, or table from another researcher's work, and by referencing that work in your bibliography.
Citation is used to:
- validating your own ideas and opinions with the opinions and research of other authors;
- providing context for the study;
- demonstrating the author's awareness of previous research in the field;
- avoiding plagiarism.
When to cite a reference?
You should cite other works in the following cases:
- When quoting, verbatim or not, the words, thoughts or ideas of other authors.
- When borrowing data, tables, figures or other materials from other works.
- When comparing your own results with the results of other researchers.
- When describing the research methodology if it is borrowed from other sources.
- When criticizing or refuting the opinions of other authors.
- When describing previous research or theories.
Citation styles
There are many different citation and reference styles used in academic papers. Some of the most common styles include:
- MLA (Modern Language Association): used in the humanities (art, literature, foreign languages, religion, philosophy).
- APA (American Psychological Association): used in the social sciences (sociology, law, psychology, history).
- Chicago Style (Turabianstyle): a universal style for academic publications and student research papers.
- Harvard Referencing style (BSI - British Standards Institution): used in the humanities and social sciences.
- ACS style (American Chemical Society): chemistry and other natural sciences.
- AIP style (American Institute of Physics): physics and physical sciences.
- IEEE style (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers): used in engineering, electronics, telecommunications, computer science and information technology.
- Vancouver style: used in medicine and physical sciences.
- OSCOLA (Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities): law and jurisprudence.
- APS style (American Physics Society): physical sciences.
- Springer MathPhys Style: used in mathematics, physics, and statistics.
It is important to choose the correct citation and reference style for your discipline and publication.
Here are some examples of how to cite in different styles:
APA:
Smith, J. (2020). The impact of social media on mental health. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(3), 423-432.
MLA:
Smith, John. "The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health." Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 105, no. 3, 2020, pp. 423-432.
Chicago:
Smith, John. "The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health." Journal of Applied Psychology 105, no. 3 (2020): 423-432.
IEEE:
[1] J. Smith, "The impact of social media on mental health," Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 423-432, 2020.
Harvard:
Smith, J. (2020). The impact of social media on mental health. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(3), 423-432.
Common mistakes in citing a quote
- Incorrect citation in the text: Incomplete bibliographic data (absence of author's name, title of the work, year of publication, pages, etc.); Incorrect use of quotation marks (non-use of double quotation marks for direct quotations and single quotation marks for quotations within quotations); Incorrect use of italics (not using italics for titles of books, journals, articles, etc.); Omission of spaces (not leaving spaces around punctuation, parentheses, quotation marks, etc.).
- Incorrect formatting of the bibliography: Incomplete bibliographic data (lack of information about authors, titles of works, publishers, years of publication, etc.); Incorrect formatting (failure to use the accepted formatting style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)); <Inattentiveness (misspelling of authors' names, titles, dates, etc.); Inconsistency of citations in the text and bibliography (not all works mentioned in the text are present in the bibliography, or vice versa).
- Plagiarism: the use of other people's ideas and texts without proper acknowledgment (lack of citations and references to sources of information); copying other people's work (attempting to pass off someone else's work as your own).
- Other mistakes: non-use of translation; incorrect use of abbreviations; illogical use of citations (excessive citation or citation of irrelevant sources).
Therefore, it is important for researchers to know the rules for citing scientific references and use them in their work, as this is an important condition for successful review and publication in the international databases Scopus and Web of Science.
If you are interested in publishing in Scopus or Web of Science, Scientific Publications is ready to help you implement your project. We have a team of experienced editors and reviewers who can help you prepare and publish your article in the most famous scientific databases.
