what is index citation for a research paper

Research Impact

• Author Identification
• Citation Indexes

Citation Indexes Overview

Other citation index numbers.

• Journal Impact
• More Resources

What are index numbers?

Citation index numbers provide a way to measure impact beyond raw citation counts. Index numbers can be calculated for individual articles, a group/list of publications, or even all the articles published in a journal or field (see our Journal Impact page).

What is the "best" index number?

Generally, the "best" measurement depends on what matters to you. The h-index is the most widely known index measurement. Some alternative measurements, like the g-index, address specific issues with the h-index. Other measurements target recent publications and citations, such as the the contemporary h-index. 

Alternatives to the h-index include:

• g-index :  Gives more weight to highly cited publications. The original h-index is insensitive to high "outliers" -- a few papers that have very high citation counts will not sway the h-index score (much). The g-index allows highly cited papers to play a larger role in the index, and tends to emphasize visibility and "lifetime achievement."
• hc-index (contemporary h-index) :  Gives more weight to recent publications. The original h-index favors senior researchers with extensive publication records, even if they have ceased publishing. The hc-index attempts to correct this and favors researchers currently publishing.
• i10-index: Measures the number of papers that have at least 10 citations. Introduced (and used) by Google Scholar.
• m-quotient: Divides the h-index by the number of years since the researcher's first published paper. m-quotient was proposed as a way to help younger researchers who may not have long publication lists.

For more index measurements, we suggest " Reflections on the  h- index ," by Prof. Anne-Wil Harzing, University of Melbourne.

What is the h-index?

The h-index attempts to correlate a researcher's total publications and total citations. It was proposed by Jorge E. Hirsch in 2005 (" An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output ," PNAS November 15, 2005 vol. 102 no. 46 16569-16572). For more information, see the Wikipedia article .

Graph of the h-index, from Wikipedia.

How do I calculate my h-index?

• Web of Science or Google Scholar will automatically calculate the h-index for the list of publications in your profile. 
• Publish or Perish will calculate h-index (and many other index numbers) for an author's publications. 
• If you want to calculate an h-index manually, Hirsch defines the h-index as follows: "A scientist has index  h  if  h  of his or her  Np  papers have at least  h  citations each and the other ( Np – h ) papers have ≤h  citations each."
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• Next: Journal Impact >>
• Last Updated: Jan 26, 2024 11:12 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.georgetown.edu/researchimpact

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Measuring Your Impact: Impact Factor, Citation Analysis, and other Metrics: Citation Analysis

• Measuring Your Impact

Citation Analysis

Find your h-index.

• Other Metrics/ Altmetrics
• Journal Impact Factor (IF)
• Selecting Publication Venues

About Citation Analysis

What is Citation Analysis?

The process whereby the impact or "quality" of an article is assessed by counting the number of times other authors mention it in their work.

Citation analysis invovles counting the number of times an article is cited by other works to measure the impact of a publicaton or author.  The caviat however, there is no single citation analysis tools that collects all publications and their cited references.  For a thorough analysis of the impact of an author or a publication, one needs to look in multiple databases to find all possible cited references. A number of resources are available at UIC  that identify cited works including: Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and other databases with limited citation data.

Citation Analysis - Why use it?

To find out how much impact a particular article or author has had, by showing which other authors cited the work within their own papers.  The H-Index is one specific method utilizing citation analysis to determine an individuals impact.

Web of Science

Web of Science provides citation counts for articles indexed within it.  It i ndexes over 10,000 journals in the arts, humanities,  sciences, and social sciences.

• Enter the name of the author in the top search box (e.g. Smith JT).  
• Select Author from the drop-down menu on the right.
• To ensure accuracy for popular names, enter Univ Illinois in the middle search box, then select “Address” from the field drop down menu on the right.  (You might have to add the second search box by clicking "add another field" before you enter the address)
• Click on Search
• a list of publications by that author name will appear.   To the right of each citation, the number of times the article has been cited will appear.   Click the number next to "times cited" to view the articles that have cited your article

Scopus provide citation counts for articles indexed within it (limited to article written in 1996 and after).   It indexes o ver 15,000 journals from over 4,000 international publishers across the disciplines.

• Once in Scopus, click on the Author search tab.
• Enter the name of the author in the search box.  If you are using initials for the first and/or middle name, be sure to enter periods after the initials (e.g. Smith J.T.). 
• To ensure accuracy if it is a popular name, you may enter University of Illinois in the affiliation field.  
• If more than one profile appears, click on your profile (or the profile of the person you are examining). 
• Once you click on the author's profile, a list of the publications will appear and to the right of each ctation, the number of times the article has been cited will appear.  
• Click the number to view the articles that have cited your article

 Dimensions (UIC does not subscribe but parts are free to use)

• Indexes over 28000 journals
• Does not display h-index in Dimensions but can calculate or if faculty, look in MyActivities
• Includes Altmetrics score
• Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides citation counts for articles found within Google Scholar.  Depending on the discipline and cited article, it may find more cited references than Web of Science or Scopus because overall, Google Scholar is indexing more journals and more publication types than other databases. Google Scholar is not specific about what is included in its tool but information is available on how Google obtains its content .   Limiting searches to only publications by a specific author name is complicated in Google Scholar.  Using Google Scholar Citations and creating your own profile will make it easy for you to create a list of publications included in Google Scholar.   Using your Google Scholar Citations account, you can see the citation counts for your publications and have GS calculate your h-index.  (You can also search Google Scholar by author name and the title of an article to retrieve citation information for a specific article.)

• Using your google (gmail) account, create a profile of all your articles captured in Google Scholar.  Follow the prompt on the scrren to set up your profile.   Once complete, this will show all the times the articles have been cited by other documents in Google Scholar and your h-index will be provided.  Its your choice whether you make your profile public or private but if you make it public, you can link to it from your own webpages.

Try Harzing's Publish or Perish Tool in order to more selectively examine published works by a specific author.

Databases containing limited citation counts:

• PubMed Central
• Science Direct
• SciFinder Scholar

About the H-index

The h-index is an index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output ( J.E. Hirsch )   The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist. The index is based on the set of the researcher's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other people's publications ( Wikipedia )  A scientist has index h if h of [his/her] Np papers have at least h citations each, and the other (Np − h) papers have at most h citations each.

Find your h-index at:

Below are instructions for obtaining your h-index from Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar.

Web of Science provides citation counts for articles indexed within it.  It indexes over 12,000 journals in the arts, humanities,  sciences, and social sciences.  To find an author's h-index in WOS:

• To ensure accuracy for popular names, add an additional search box and enter "Univ Illinois" and then select “Address” from the field drop down menu on the right.
• Click on Citation Report on the right hand corner of the results page.  The H-index is on the right of the screen.
• If more than one profile appears, click on your profile (or the profile of the person you are examining).  Under the Research section, you will see the h-index listed.
• If you have worked at more than one place, your name may appear twice with 2 separate h-index ratings.  Select the check box next to each relevent profile, and click show documents.

  Google Scholar

• Using your google (gmail) account, create a profile of all your articles captured in Google Scholar.  Follow the prompt on the screen to set up your profile.   Once complete, this will show all the times the articles have been cited by other documents in Google Scholar and your h-index will be provided.  Its your choice whether you make your profile public or private but if you make it public, you can link to it from your own webpages.
• See  Albert Einstein's
• Harzing’s Publish or Perish (POP) 
• Publish or Perish Searches Google Scholar.  After searching by your name, deselect from the list of articles retrieved those that you did not author.  Your h-index will appear at the top of the tool.  Note:This tool must be downloaded to use
• << Previous: Measuring Your Impact
• Next: Find Your H-Index >>
• Last Updated: Mar 13, 2024 12:51 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.uic.edu/if

Research Impact: Citation Indexes

• Journal Impact
• Citation Indexes
• ORCiD Researcher ID
• More Resources

Citation Indexes Overview

What are index numbers.

Citation index numbers provide a way to measure impact beyond raw citation counts. Index numbers can be calculated for individual articles, a group/list of publications, or even all the articles published in a journal or field (see our Journal Impact page).

What is the "best" index number?

Generally, the "best" measurement depends on what matters to you. The h-index is the most widely known index measurement. Some alternative measurements, like the g-index, address specific issues with the h-index. Other measurements target recent publications and citations, such as the the contemporary h-index. 

Other Citation Index Numbers

Alternatives to the h-index include:

• g-index :  Gives more weight to highly cited publications. The original h-index is insensitive to high "outliers" -- a few papers that have very high citation counts will not sway the h-index score (much). The g-index allows highly cited papers to play a larger role in the index, and tends to emphasize visibility and "lifetime achievement."
• hc-index (contemporary h-index) :  Gives more weight to recent publications. The original h-index favors senior researchers with extensive publication records, even if they have ceased publishing. The hc-index attempts to correct this and favors researchers currently publishing.
• i10-index: Measures the number of papers that have at least 10 citations. Introduced (and used) by Google Scholar.
• m-quotient: Divides the h-index by the number of years since the researcher's first published paper. m-quotient was proposed as a way to help younger researchers who may not have long publication lists.

For more index measurements, we suggest " Reflections on the  h- index ," by Prof. Anne-Wil Harzing, University of Melbourne.

What is the h-index?

The h-index attempts to correlate a researcher's total publications and total citations. It was proposed by Jorge E. Hirsch in 2005 (" An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output ," PNAS November 15, 2005 vol. 102 no. 46 16569-16572). For more information, see the Wikipedia article .

Graph of the h-index, from Wikipedia.

How do I calculate my h-index?

• Web of Science or Google Scholar will automatically calculate the h-index for the list of publications in your profile. 
• Publish or Perish will calculate h-index (and many other index numbers) for an author's publications. 
• If you want to calculate an h-index manually, Hirsch defines the h-index as follows: "A scientist has index  h  if  h  of his or her  Np  papers have at least  h  citations each and the other ( Np – h ) papers have ≤h  citations each."
• << Previous: Citation Metrics
• Next: Altmetrics >>
• Last Updated: Nov 17, 2023 1:28 PM
• URL: https://libguides.gwu.edu/researchimpact

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Citation Indexes: Scopus & Web of Science

• Citation Indexes: Scopus & Web of Science

Using Scopus as an Author

Scopus metrics.

• Web of Science
• Subject-Specific Citation Indexes
• Citation Tracking & Bibliometrics This link opens in a new window
• Literature Reviews This link opens in a new window
• Citation Management Tools This link opens in a new window
• Career Research This link opens in a new window
• Academic Research Glossary

Scopus is a citation index : it collects abstracts and citation data for all articles published by the set of academic journals included in its indexes based on specific criteria.

This citation data can be used to analyze scholarly research in many ways, including by topic, author, affiliation, publication, time period, and other factors. When looking for articles for a literature review, using Scopus is the best way to make sure you're reading the articles you should be.

Scopus includes a few very useful ways to analyze articles in groups, either as a collection of search results or as the articles that all cite a particular article. Here is an image of the "Documents by year" graph for articles in a search, showing the how many articles per year were published on that topic.

The Database

Database Help

• Scopus Search Help (Elsevier) How to search for a document in Scopus, including search operators, filters, and a list of document types included in the database.
• Scopus Tutorials (Elsevier) Tutorials to guide your usage of the database.

Sources & Coverage

Contents include:

• Conference Proceedings
• Scholarly Book Series
• Scopus Content Overview What's included and how much.
• Scopus Sources Search for titles by name or subject area or download the entire Source List (.xlsx file).
• Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board This group of international researchers, scientists and librarians decides what journals meet the criteria to be indexed in Scopus.

The Scopus algorithm uses the article metadata for publications in a journal indexed by Scopus to create Scopus Author Profiles when two or more articles are linked to one author name. Authors with similar names are assigned different Scopus Author Identifiers, but it is the responsibility of the individual author to ensure that citations are accurately assigned to the right identifier.

• In addition to contact and citation information, your Author Profile can also show awarded grants and preprints when indexed by Scopus.
• Unique identifier: Scopus Author Identifier. Errors can be corrected through submission to the Author Feedback Wizard, which is also how you can request to link your ORCID account.
• Total citation count
• H-index score, indicating the ratio of total articles published to citations
• Field-Weighted Citation Impact
• Scopus Author Profile FAQs How Author Profiles are made and edited.
• How Do I Use the Author Feedback Wizard? (Scopus) Elsevier support page about using the Author Feedback Wizard to submit requests for profile edits.

Journal Metrics

Journal-level metrics

• CiteScore: "CiteScore calculates the average number of citations received in 4 calendar years to 5 peer-reviewed document types (research articles, review articles, conference proceedings, data papers, and book chapters) published in a journal in the same four years." That is, the number of citations a journal receives in a 4-year period divided by the number of total documents published in that same 4-year period. The CiteScore methodology was revised in 2020 and all current CiteScore data has been updated.
• SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), by Scimago Research Group : "[T]he average number of weighted citations received in the selected year by the documents published in the selected journal in the three previous years."
• Source-Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), by  CWTS Journal Indicators : "[T]he number of citations given in the present year to publications in the past three years divided by the total number of publications in the past three years."

Please Note

A common way to judge the effect of a journal on a field of research is through using citation data, tracking the number of times articles are cited, to aid in the decision-making process for those who might need this data: researchers looking to publish, librarians looking to subscribe, or promotion-and-tenure committees looking to judge the work done by researchers. But it's important to remember that the value of a journal to the field might be seen in measures other than citation counts, so while journal citation data can provide a good data point to keep in mind when making your own decision, it should not be the only one you consider .

Article Metrics

Scopus metrics

• Total number of citations (per date range)
• Citations per year (per date range)
• Citation benchmarking
• Field-weighted Citation Impact ("FWCI is the ratio of the document's citations to the average number of citations received by all similar documents over a three-year window.")

PlumX altmetrics (tracking article activity online)

• Usage (clicks, downloads, saves, etc.)
• Mentions (news articles, blogposts)
• Captures (bookmarks)
• Social Media (shares, tweets, etc.)
• Citations (journal indexes and patents)

Author Metrics

h -index and  h -graph: "A researcher's performance based on career publications, as measured by the lifetime number of citations that each published article receives;  h -indices indicate a balance between productivity (scholarly output) and citation impact (citation count)." (Source: Scopus Metrics )

For More Information

• CiteScore Journal Metric - FAQ (Scopus) More info about CiteScore from Scopus.
• Scopus Metrics The rundown of metrics used in Scopus for journals, articles and authors.
• << Previous: Citation Indexes: Scopus & Web of Science
• Next: Web of Science >>
• Last Updated: Apr 4, 2024 12:34 PM
• URL: https://library.stevens.edu/citationindex

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What Is a Journal Index, and Why is Indexation Important?

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A journal index, or a list of journals organized by discipline, subject, region and other factors, can be used by other researchers to search for studies and data on certain topics. As an author, publishing your research in an indexed journal increases the credibility and visibility of your work. Here we help you to understand journal indexing better - as well as benefit from it.

Updated on May 13, 2022

A journal index, also called a ‘bibliographic index' or ‘bibliographic database', is a list of journals organized by discipline, subject, region or other factors.

Journal indexes can be used to search for studies and data on certain topics. Both scholars and the general public can search journal indexes.

Journals in indexes have been reviewed to ensure they meet certain criteria. These criteria may include:

• Ethics and peer review policies
• Assessment criteria for submitted articles
• Editorial board transparency

What is a journal index?

Indexed journals are important, because they are often considered to be of higher scientific quality than non-indexed journals. You should aim for publication in an indexed journal for this reason. AJE's Journal Guide journal selection tool can help you find one.

Journal indexes are created by different organizations, such as:

• Public bodies- For example, PubMed is maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine. PubMed is the largest index for biomedical publications.
• Analytic companies- For example: the Web of Science Core Collection is maintained by Clarivate Analytics. The WOS Core Collection includes journals indexed in the following sub-indexes: (1) Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); (2) Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); (3) Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI); (4) Emerging Sources Citation Index.
• Publishers- For example, Scopus is owned by Elsevier and maintained by the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board . Scopus includes journals in all disciplines, but the majority are science and technology journals.

Key types of journal indexes

You can choose from a range of journal indexes. Some are broad and are considered “general indexes”. Others are specific to certain fields and are considered “specialized indexes”.

For example:

• The Science Citation Index Expanded includes mostly science and technology journals
• The Arts & Humanities Citation Index includes mostly arts and humanities journals
• PubMed includes mostly biomedical journals
• The Emerging Sources Citation Index includes journals in all disciplines

Which index you choose will depend on your research subject area.

Some indexes, such as Web of Science , include journals from many countries. Others, such as the Chinese Academy of Science indexing system , are specific to certain countries or regions.

Choosing the type of index may depend on factors such as university or grant requirements.

Some indexes are open to the public, while others require a subscription. Many people searching for research papers will start with free search engines, such as Google Scholar , or free journal indexes, such as the Web of Science Master Journal List . Publishing in a journal in one or more free indexes increases the chance of your article being seen.

Journals in subscription-based indexes are generally considered high-quality journals. If the status of the journal is important, choose a journal in one or more subscription-based indexes.

Most journals belong to more than one index. To improve the visibility and impact of your article, choose a journal featured in multiple indexes.

How does journal indexing work?

All journals are checked for certain criteria before being added to an index. Each index has its own set of rules, but basic publishing standards include the following:

• An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). ISSNs are unique to each journal and indicate that the journal publishes issues on a recurring basis.
• An established publishing schedule.
• Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) . DOIs are unique letter/number codes assigned to digital objects. The benefit of a DOI is that it will never change, unlike a website link.
• Copyright requirements. A copyright policy helps protect your work and outlines the rules for the use or sharing of your work, whether it's copyrighted or has some form of creative commons licensing .
• Other requirements can include conflict of interest statements, ethical approval statements, an editorial board listed on the website, and published peer review policies.

To be included in an index, a journal must submit an application and undergo an audit by the indexation board. Index board members (called auditors) will confirm certain information, such as the full listing of the editorial board on the website, the inclusion of ethics statements in published articles, established appeal and retraction processes, and more.

Why is journal indexing important?

As an author, publishing your research in an indexed journal increases the credibility and visibility of your work. Indexed journals are generally considered to be of higher scientific quality than non-indexed journals.

With the growth of fully open access journals and online-only journals, recognizing “predatory” journals and their publishers has become difficult. Indexing a journal in one or more well-known databases is a good sign the journal is credible.

Moreover, more and more institutions are requiring publication in an indexed journal as a requirement for graduation, promotion, or grant funding.

As an author, it is important to ensure that your research is seen by as many eyes as possible. Index databases are often the first places scholars and the public will search for specific information. Publishing a paper in a non-indexed journal could be harmful in this context.

However, there are some exceptions, such as medical case reports.

Many journals don't accept medical case reports because they don't have high citation rates. However, several primary and secondary journals have been created specifically for case reports. Examples include the primary journal, BMC Medical Case Reports, and the secondary journal, European Heart Journal - Case Reports.

While many of these journals are indexed, they may not be indexed in the major indexes, though they are still highly acceptable journals.

Open access and indexation

With the recent increase in open access publishing, many journals have started offering an open access option. Other journals are completely open access, meaning they do not offer a traditional subscription service.

Open access journals have many benefits, such as:

• High visibility. Anyone can access and read your paper.
• Publication speed. It is generally quicker to post an article online than to publish it in a traditional journal format.

Identifying credible open access journals

Open access has made it easier for predatory journal publishers to attract unsuspecting or new authors. These predatory journal publishers often publish any article for a fee without peer review and with questionable ethical and copyright policies. Here we show you eight ways to spot predatory open access journals .

One way to identify credible open access journals is their index status. However, be aware that some predatory journals will falsely list indexes or display logos on their website. It is good practice to make sure the journal is indexed on the index's website before submitting your article to that journal.

Major journal indexing services

There are several journal indexes out there. Some of the most popular indexes are as follows:

Life Sciences and Hard Sciences

• Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) Master Journal List
• Engineering Index
• Web of Science (now published by Clarivate Analytics, formerly by ISI and Thomson Reuters)
• Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Humanities and Social Sciences

• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) Master Journal List
• Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) Master Journal List

Indexation and impact factors

It is easy to assume that indexed journals will have higher impact factors, but indexation and impact factor are unrelated.

Many credible journals don't have impact factors, but they are indexed in several well-known indexes. Therefore, the lack of an impact factor may not accurately represent the credibility of a journal.

Of course, impact factors may be important for other reasons, such as institutional requirements or grant funding. Read this authoritative piece on the uses, importance, and limitations of impact factors .

Final Thoughts

Selecting an indexed journal is an important part of the publication journey. Indexation can tell you a lot about a journal. Publishing in an indexed journal can increase the visibility and credibility of your research. If you're having trouble selecting a journal for publication, consider learning more about AJE's journal recommendation service .

Catherine Zettel Nalen, MS

Academic Editor, Specialist, and Journal Recommendation Team Lead

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Citation Searching

• What is Citation Searching?
• Find Citing Papers
• Author Impact
• Journal Impact Factors

Citation indexes track references that authors put in the bibliographies of published papers. They provide a way to search for and analyze the literature in a way not possible through simple keyword/topical searching. It also provides data on the relative "impact" of journals, authors, and institutions, as well as assessing particular areas of research activity and publication. This field is called bibliometrics.

While a number of databases allow citation searching today, Web of Science (now a product of Clarivate Analytics, formerly part of Thomson Reuters) was the original citation index tool.  It covers all disciplines, but is strongest in STEM subjects where journals are the predominant form of cited literature. 

UT-Austin users can access the Web of Science citation indexes back to 1900.

The Web of Science platform currently also provides temporary access to several databases that are not part of the Core Collection, including Biosis Citation Index, Data Citation Index, and Zoological Record.

What Can I Do with Citation Indexes?

Find papers that cite earlier papers.

Citation searching allows you to look forward in the literature from the starting point of a particular paper or group of papers. This approach complements the more familiar word-based literature searching, which looks backward in time. It allows you to find more documents on the same or similar topic without using any keywords or subject terms.  [See Find Citing Papers tab.]

Find out how many times my publications have been cited.  Determine my h-index.

Counting one's citations is an important part of knowing your own scholarly impact.  [See Author Impact tab.]

Determine the "best journals" in my field.

Citation data is the raw material behind the Journal Impact Factor, a relative score of a journal's aggregate citation rate in recent years.  [See Journal Impact Factors tab.]

Verify old and obscure references.

Sometimes you'll run across a mysterious reference, and you won't be able to determine what it's referring to. By searching that reference as a "cited reference" in Web of Science, you may find other, more complete citations that might solve the mystery. It doesn't matter how old the mystery item is, or what kind of publication it was -- if someone has cited it since 1900 it will show up in the Citation Index.

This guide is authored by David Flaxbart , Liaison Librarian for Chemistry and STEM Resources Coordinator.

• Last Updated: Aug 9, 2023 1:05 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/citationsearching

How To Cite a Research Paper: MLA, APA, and Chicago Style

• Posted on January 25, 2022

When you’re writing a research paper, you’ll use a variety of sources to find information. You might find that you end up using other people’s research papers as sources of information for your own work. You need to know how to cite a research paper properly.

Using text citations tells readers where you got your information, and help build a sense of trust, allowing the reader to feel confident that you haven’t falsified the information. You have to prove that you’ve done the research and found data to back up the claims you’re making.

Writing a paper without giving credit to people whose work you’re using is plagiarism. Unless you’re citing a direct quote you want to change the language enough, by putting the quote in your own words, so it sounds like original content. Quetext’s plagiarism checker  helps you search for similar content across the web so you can turn in a completely original paper.

Whether you’re submitting a research paper to school or for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, you’re required to cite your sources. Editors often reread the work of writers and researchers to ensure the information is factual. A teacher or professor will definitely check that your sources are accurate, so using tools like Quetext will help avoid unintentional plagiarism errors or wrongfully cited information.

Why Text Citations are Important

If you don’t have sources to back up your research, others might accuse you of spreading false information or plagiarism. Any journal publishing papers should verify what they’re printing, but ultimately, as the author, the buck stops with you.

In general, it’s a kindness to cite your sources. The people who created them did a lot of work, so it’s wrong to claim ownership of their ideas and information. But it’s also an ethical issue that can have major repercussions.

There have been cases where researchers  make up information  or falsify their sources and must face the consequences. People depend on factual information and don’t react well when they realize you lied to them or falsely paraphrase information.

That’s why it’s common knowledge to write a well-researched paper with text citations. If anyone claims your information is incorrect, you can point them to the source where you found the data. This doesn’t guarantee that the information you cited is correct, but you’ll be able to provide readers with a source of where you gathered your information.

When you’re citing other people’s research papers, make sure the source is legitimate. You should only use peer-reviewed journals so you know the article has gone through edits and fact-checking. Something identified as a research paper that is only on a blog or message board isn’t always a reliable source.

Many students like to use  Wikipedia  because there’s so much information available from one source. However, Wikipedia allows users to edit the information. What you read in a specific entry might not be true. It’s best to scroll down to the works cited and go to the original source yourself. If you can’t find a reliable, original source for the information, you shouldn’t use it.

Using the Various Citation Styles

The information used in any citation is basically the same across each style guide. The formatting and order of some elements may vary, so it’s important to know the difference between Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), and Chicago Styles.

The style you use depends on what type of writing you’re doing. All will use these basic elements in some form or another:

Source name

Volume and edition

Publication date

Page numbers

Publisher name

City and country of the publisher

URL and DOI for web pages and digital sources

The date you accessed the material

In addition to a reference list at the end of your work, you’ll also use in-text citations. Whenever you reference an idea or data that isn’t yours, you cite it. Each style has different types of in-text citations as well. Read on to find out about each citation format.

You’ll likely use the  MLA citation guide  if you’re writing papers in the humanities, such as for language arts, literary criticism, cultural studies, and more. The current edition of the MLA Handbook is the ninth because the style constantly evolves. As new technology creates new potential sources, MLA adds information to help students and researchers cite everything correctly.

The MLA Handbook has instructions on how to cite song lyrics, social media posts, and digital images, along with all of the standard research outlets. The book also gives detailed information on how to cite a research paper.

The MLA Handbook includes information about how to format your reference page. Use a 12-pt standard font like Times New Roman, so the text in italics is clearly different from the regular font. Center the title, Works Cited, at the top of the page. Your last name and page number are in the top right corner, and the reference page always comes at the end of your document.

Alphabetize citations according to the last name of the author. Left-align the citations and double-space them with no extra lines between each entry. When a citation goes beyond a single line, use a hanging indent to format it correctly. This lets the reader know it’s still the same citation continuing on.

Now that you know the basic format for the Works Cited page read on to find out how to cite a research paper for inclusion on this list.

Citing a Research Paper in MLA Style

When you’re citing a research paper in MLA style, you start with the author’s full name, putting the last name of the author first, followed by the title of the research paper in quotation marks. Next comes the the title of the journal that published the paper in italics, followed by the volume number, issue number, and date of publication.

You’ll also include the page number since the paper is in a journal with many pages. If you found the source online, include the digital object identifier or DOI. The DOI is a way to give a document a permanent web address so people reading your work can easily find the source.

MLA format also asks you to include the date you accessed online materials. Doing so gives your reader more information about when you read the research if it changed since that date. Here is an example of a research paper citation in MLA style:

Writer, Maria. “My Research Paper.” Research Journal, vol 3, no. 4, 2020, pp. 7-9. doi:12.34/mfs.12.34. Accessed 13 March 2021.

If the work wasn’t published online, you could stop your citation after the page numbers.

Sometimes you might find research papers that aren’t published in a scholarly journal. You can still use those in your work, but the MLA citation will look different. You’ll still put the last name of the author first, but instead of putting the title of the research paper in quotation marks, you’ll put it in italics.

Here is an example of an unpublished research paper citation in MLA style:

Writer, Maria. My Research Paper. 2020, http://websiteused.com . Accessed 13 March 2021.

These two examples show you how to document the source on your Works Cited page. In-text citations look different.

In-Text Citations for a Research Paper in MLA Style

When you’re working with the MLA format, an in-text reference requires a parenthetical citation.

If you refer to someone else’s research in a sentence, either with a direct quote or by paraphrasing, you need to give that author credit. At the end of the sentence where you use the information, you’ll put the author’s information in parenthesis and then put the sentence’s ending punctuation.

You use the author’s last name and the page number where you found the information for in-text citations. Then anyone reading your work can go to your Works Cited page, find the entry by the author’s last name, and access the document themselves. The page number directs them to where you got the specific information, so they don’t have to read the whole paper to find it. Here is an example of an in-text citation in MLA style:

Over 80% of the city’s garbage ended up in the ocean (Writer, 8).

You might mention the author’s name in your sentence. In that case, the parenthetical citation only needs to have the page numbers for reference. Here is an example:

According to Maria Writer, over 80% of the city’s garbage went into the ocean (8).

Researchers in the social science field, like sociology, anthropology, and psychology, use the  APA style  in their work. Like the MLA Handbook, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has gone through changes over the years. It’s currently on the 7th edition.

In addition to helping you understand how to cite research, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has information about how to format your paper to include tables, figures, and headings that often accompany scientific journal articles.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association also tells you how to format your reference page. In MLA style, this is the Works Cited page. For APA style, it’s either the Reference List or Reference Page.

This page uses the same font style as the rest of the paper but starts on its own page with a number in the top right corner. The title of the page is bold and centered at the top and should simply read “References.”

List citations in alphabetical order by author’s last name regardless of the type of source. Each citation is double-spaced and has a hanging indent if it goes beyond one line.

Now that you understand how to properly format your APA reference page, learn how to cite a research paper to include on the list.

Citing a Research Paper in APA Style

When you use a research paper in your work, you need to include it on your APA references page at the end of your document.

An APA citation includes the same information as the MLA format but in a different order. The citation starts with the author’s last name but only uses their first initial. Then comes the year of publication in parenthesis.

The paper’s title follows, then the title of the journal in italics. You also include the journal volume, issue number, and page numbers. As with MLA citations, include a DOI if you found the research paper online. Here is an example of a published research paper cited in APA format:

Writer, M. (2020). My Research Paper. Research Journal, 3(4), 7-9. doi:12.34/mfs.12.34

If the paper isn’t published in a journal, you can still use it in your work with a proper citation. Here is an example:

Writer, M. (2020). My Research Paper [PDF]. Retrieved from http://websiteused.com

In-Text Citations for a Research Paper in APA Style

In-text citations in the APA format differ from MLA style. You still put it in parenthesis, but you include different information. For APA parentheticals, include the author’s last name and the paper’s year of publication. This method applies when you’re summarizing or paraphrasing the author’s idea. Here is an example of an in-text citation for a research paper in APA style:

Over 80% of the city’s garbage went into the ocean (Writer, 2020).

If you’re using a direct quote from the work you need to include the page number so the reader can find the quotation. Here is an example:

Maria Writer said, “Over 80% of the city’s garbage is going into the ocean” (2020, p. 8).

Chicago Style

Chicago Style  got its name from the University of Chicago, where the style originated. Writers use this format for works in the field of history, but you can also use it for the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

MLA style has a Works Cited page, APA has References, and Chicago Style differs because it includes a Bibliography. The page comes at the end of your work with a page number in the top right corner. The title, “Bibliography,” is bold and centered at the top.

You will single-space your citations, but you’ll add an extra line between each entry. As with the other reference pages, you’ll left-align the work and use a hanging indent when a citation continues onto a second line.

Having an overview of how to format the bibliography will help you understand the citation styles for a research paper.

Citing a Research Paper in Chicago Style

Citations in Chicago Style are a mix of MLA and APA formats. It’s easiest to follow this template:

Writer, Maria. 2020. “My Research Paper.” Research Journal 3 (4): 7-9. doi:12.34/mfs.12.34.

As with other styles, you can reference an unpublished research paper as a document. Here is an example:

Writer, Maria. 2020. My Research Paper. PDF. http://websiteused.com .

In both instances, if there are multiple authors for a paper, list the rest of the authors in normal format. For example:

Author, Alan, Stanley Sample, and Maria Writer. 2020. “My Research Paper.” Research Journal 3 (4): 7-9. doi:12.34/mfs.12.34.

In-Text Citations for a Research Paper in Chicago Style

An in-text citation in Chicago Style is much simpler than both MLA and APA formats. You only need to include the last name of the author and year of publication in parenthesis with no comma in between them. For example:

Almost 80% of the city’s garbage goes into the ocean (Writer 2020).

You’ll include the page number for specificity if you’re quoting the author. Here’s an example:

Maria Writer said, “Over 80% of the city’s garbage is going into the ocean” (2020, 8).

You can also use endnotes in Chicago Style. A citation refers the reader to your source, but an endnote includes a bit of an explanation of why you used it. The information included in an endnote would disrupt the flow of your paper, but it’s still something you want the reader to know.

Make Text Citations Easy

Knowing when you need to cite a source helps you manage your research. Anytime you find information that you’re going to paraphrase, summarize, or quote in your work, you need to cite the source. The full citation will go on your reference page, but you’ll need an in-text citation where you use the information in your paper.

When you’re stating something that is  common knowledge , there’s no need to make a citation. Common knowledge is something that your reader would believe without needing proof. You can check if something is common knowledge by searching for it and finding it mentioned, without a citation, in at least five sources.

Once you learn the basics about citing a research paper in MLA, APA, and Chicago Styles, you’ll feel more confident in your work. The important thing is to pay attention to small details, like capitalization, italics and the use of abbreviations. But there’s no need to do it all on your own—Quetext has a  citation assistant  waiting to help. Give Quetext citation generator a try on your next project.

Sign Up for Quetext Today!

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Home » How to Cite Research Paper – All Formats and Examples

How to Cite Research Paper – All Formats and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Paper Citation

Research paper citation refers to the act of acknowledging and referencing a previously published work in a scholarly or academic paper . When citing sources, researchers provide information that allows readers to locate the original source, validate the claims or arguments made in the paper, and give credit to the original author(s) for their work.

The citation may include the author’s name, title of the publication, year of publication, publisher, and other relevant details that allow readers to trace the source of the information. Proper citation is a crucial component of academic writing, as it helps to ensure accuracy, credibility, and transparency in research.

How to Cite Research Paper

There are several formats that are used to cite a research paper. Follow the guide for the Citation of a Research Paper:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example : Smith, John. The History of the World. Penguin Press, 2010.

Journal Article

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Year of Publication, pp. Page Numbers.

Example : Johnson, Emma. “The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture.” Environmental Science Journal, vol. 10, no. 2, 2019, pp. 45-59.

Research Paper

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Paper.” Conference Name, Location, Date of Conference.

Example : Garcia, Maria. “The Importance of Early Childhood Education.” International Conference on Education, Paris, 5-7 June 2018.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Webpage.” Website Title, Publisher, Date of Publication, URL.

Example : Smith, John. “The Benefits of Exercise.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 1 March 2022, https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-exercise.

News Article

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper, Date of Publication, URL.

Example : Robinson, Sarah. “Biden Announces New Climate Change Policies.” The New York Times, 22 Jan. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/climate/biden-climate-change-policies.html.

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of book. Publisher.

Example: Smith, J. (2010). The History of the World. Penguin Press.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range.

Example: Johnson, E., Smith, K., & Lee, M. (2019). The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture. Environmental Science Journal, 10(2), 45-59.

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of paper. In Editor First Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Title of Conference Proceedings (page numbers). Publisher.

Example: Garcia, M. (2018). The Importance of Early Childhood Education. In J. Smith (Ed.), Proceedings from the International Conference on Education (pp. 60-75). Springer.

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of webpage. Website name. URL

Example: Smith, J. (2022, March 1). The Benefits of Exercise. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-exercise

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of article. Newspaper name. URL.

Example: Robinson, S. (2021, January 22). Biden Announces New Climate Change Policies. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/climate/biden-climate-change-policies.html

Chicago/Turabian style

Please note that there are two main variations of the Chicago style: the author-date system and the notes and bibliography system. I will provide examples for both systems below.

Author-Date system:

• In-text citation: (Author Last Name Year, Page Number)
• Reference list: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher.
• In-text citation: (Smith 2005, 28)
• Reference list: Smith, John. 2005. The History of America. New York: Penguin Press.

Notes and Bibliography system:

• Footnote/Endnote citation: Author First Name Last Name, Title of Book (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), Page Number.
• Bibliography citation: Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: John Smith, The History of America (New York: Penguin Press, 2005), 28.
• Bibliography citation: Smith, John. The History of America. New York: Penguin Press, 2005.

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

• Reference list: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume Number (Issue Number): Page Range.
• In-text citation: (Johnson 2010, 45)
• Reference list: Johnson, Mary. 2010. “The Impact of Social Media on Society.” Journal of Communication 60(2): 39-56.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Author First Name Last Name, “Article Title,” Journal Title Volume Number, Issue Number (Year): Page Range.
• Bibliography citation: Author Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume Number, Issue Number (Year): Page Range.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Mary Johnson, “The Impact of Social Media on Society,” Journal of Communication 60, no. 2 (2010): 39-56.
• Bibliography citation: Johnson, Mary. “The Impact of Social Media on Society.” Journal of Communication 60, no. 2 (2010): 39-56.

RESEARCH PAPERS:

• Reference list: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Paper.” Conference Proceedings Title, Location, Date. Publisher, Page Range.
• In-text citation: (Jones 2015, 12)
• Reference list: Jones, David. 2015. “The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture.” Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Paris, France, June 1-3, 2015. Springer, 10-20.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Author First Name Last Name, “Title of Paper,” Conference Proceedings Title, Location, Date (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), Page Range.
• Bibliography citation: Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Paper.” Conference Proceedings Title, Location, Date. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: David Jones, “The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Paris, France, June 1-3, 2015 (New York: Springer, 10-20).
• Bibliography citation: Jones, David. “The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture.” Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Paris, France, June 1-3, 2015. New York: Springer, 10-20.
• In-text citation: (Author Last Name Year)
• Reference list: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Webpage.” Website Name. URL.
• In-text citation: (Smith 2018)
• Reference list: Smith, John. 2018. “The Importance of Recycling.” Environmental News Network. https://www.enn.com/articles/54374-the-importance-of-recycling.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Author First Name Last Name, “Title of Webpage,” Website Name, URL (accessed Date).
• Bibliography citation: Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Webpage.” Website Name. URL (accessed Date).
• Footnote/Endnote citation: John Smith, “The Importance of Recycling,” Environmental News Network, https://www.enn.com/articles/54374-the-importance-of-recycling (accessed April 8, 2023).
• Bibliography citation: Smith, John. “The Importance of Recycling.” Environmental News Network. https://www.enn.com/articles/54374-the-importance-of-recycling (accessed April 8, 2023).

NEWS ARTICLES:

• Reference list: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper, Month Day.
• In-text citation: (Johnson 2022)
• Reference list: Johnson, Mary. 2022. “New Study Finds Link Between Coffee and Longevity.” The New York Times, January 15.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Author First Name Last Name, “Title of Article,” Name of Newspaper (City), Month Day, Year.
• Bibliography citation: Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper (City), Month Day, Year.
• Footnote/Endnote citation: Mary Johnson, “New Study Finds Link Between Coffee and Longevity,” The New York Times (New York), January 15, 2022.
• Bibliography citation: Johnson, Mary. “New Study Finds Link Between Coffee and Longevity.” The New York Times (New York), January 15, 2022.

Harvard referencing style

Format: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year of publication). Title of book. Publisher.

Example: Smith, J. (2008). The Art of War. Random House.

Journal article:

Format: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of journal, volume number(issue number), page range.

Example: Brown, M. (2012). The impact of social media on business communication. Harvard Business Review, 90(12), 85-92.

Research paper:

Format: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year of publication). Title of paper. In Editor’s First initial. Last name (Ed.), Title of book (page range). Publisher.

Example: Johnson, R. (2015). The effects of climate change on agriculture. In S. Lee (Ed.), Climate Change and Sustainable Development (pp. 45-62). Springer.

Format: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of page. Website name. URL.

Example: Smith, J. (2017, May 23). The history of the internet. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-the-internet

News article:

Format: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of article. Title of newspaper, page number (if applicable).

Example: Thompson, E. (2022, January 5). New study finds coffee may lower risk of dementia. The New York Times, A1.

IEEE Format

Author(s). (Year of Publication). Title of Book. Publisher.

Smith, J. K. (2015). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.

Journal Article:

Author(s). (Year of Publication). Title of Article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), page numbers.

Johnson, T. J., & Kaye, B. K. (2016). Interactivity and the Future of Journalism. Journalism Studies, 17(2), 228-246.

Author(s). (Year of Publication). Title of Paper. Paper presented at Conference Name, Location.

Jones, L. K., & Brown, M. A. (2018). The Role of Social Media in Political Campaigns. Paper presented at the 2018 International Conference on Social Media and Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Website: Author(s) or Organization Name. (Year of Publication or Last Update). Title of Webpage. Website Name. URL.

Example: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2019, August 29). NASA’s Mission to Mars. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html

• News Article: Author(s). (Year of Publication). Title of Article. Name of News Source. URL.

Example: Johnson, M. (2022, February 16). Climate Change: Is it Too Late to Save the Planet? CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/world/climate-change-planet-scn/index.html

Vancouver Style

In-text citation: Use superscript numbers to cite sources in the text, e.g., “The study conducted by Smith and Johnson^1 found that…”.

Reference list citation: Format: Author(s). Title of book. Edition if any. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Example: Smith J, Johnson L. Introduction to Molecular Biology. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley-Blackwell; 2015.

In-text citation: Use superscript numbers to cite sources in the text, e.g., “Several studies have reported that^1,2,3…”.

Reference list citation: Format: Author(s). Title of article. Abbreviated name of journal. Year of publication; Volume number (Issue number): Page range.

Example: Jones S, Patel K, Smith J. The effects of exercise on cardiovascular health. J Cardiol. 2018; 25(2): 78-84.

In-text citation: Use superscript numbers to cite sources in the text, e.g., “Previous research has shown that^1,2,3…”.

Reference list citation: Format: Author(s). Title of paper. In: Editor(s). Title of the conference proceedings. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Page range.

Example: Johnson L, Smith J. The role of stem cells in tissue regeneration. In: Patel S, ed. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Regenerative Medicine. London: Academic Press; 2016. p. 68-73.

In-text citation: Use superscript numbers to cite sources in the text, e.g., “According to the World Health Organization^1…”.

Reference list citation: Format: Author(s). Title of webpage. Name of website. URL [Accessed Date].

Example: World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public [Accessed 3 March 2023].

In-text citation: Use superscript numbers to cite sources in the text, e.g., “According to the New York Times^1…”.

Reference list citation: Format: Author(s). Title of article. Name of newspaper. Year Month Day; Section (if any): Page number.

Example: Jones S. Study shows that sleep is essential for good health. The New York Times. 2022 Jan 12; Health: A8.

Author(s). Title of Book. Edition Number (if it is not the first edition). Publisher: Place of publication, Year of publication.

Example: Smith, J. Chemistry of Natural Products. 3rd ed.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2015.

Journal articles:

Author(s). Article Title. Journal Name Year, Volume, Inclusive Pagination.

Example: Garcia, A. M.; Jones, B. A.; Smith, J. R. Selective Synthesis of Alkenes from Alkynes via Catalytic Hydrogenation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 10754-10759.

Research papers:

Author(s). Title of Paper. Journal Name Year, Volume, Inclusive Pagination.

Example: Brown, H. D.; Jackson, C. D.; Patel, S. D. A New Approach to Photovoltaic Solar Cells. J. Mater. Chem. 2018, 26, 134-142.

Author(s) (if available). Title of Webpage. Name of Website. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Example: National Institutes of Health. Heart Disease and Stroke. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/heart-disease-and-stroke (accessed April 7, 2023).

News articles:

Author(s). Title of Article. Name of News Publication. Date of Publication. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Example: Friedman, T. L. The World is Flat. New York Times. April 7, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/opinion/world-flat-globalization.html (accessed April 7, 2023).

In AMA Style Format, the citation for a book should include the following information, in this order:

• Title of book (in italics)
• Edition (if applicable)
• Place of publication
• Year of publication

Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al. Molecular Cell Biology. 4th ed. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman; 2000.

In AMA Style Format, the citation for a journal article should include the following information, in this order:

• Title of article
• Abbreviated title of journal (in italics)
• Year of publication; volume number(issue number):page numbers.

Chen H, Huang Y, Li Y, et al. Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on depression in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(6):e207081. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.7081

In AMA Style Format, the citation for a research paper should include the following information, in this order:

• Title of paper
• Name of journal or conference proceeding (in italics)
• Volume number(issue number):page numbers.

Bredenoord AL, Kroes HY, Cuppen E, Parker M, van Delden JJ. Disclosure of individual genetic data to research participants: the debate reconsidered. Trends Genet. 2011;27(2):41-47. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2010.11.004

In AMA Style Format, the citation for a website should include the following information, in this order:

• Title of web page or article
• Name of website (in italics)
• Date of publication or last update (if available)
• URL (website address)
• Date of access (month day, year)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How to protect yourself and others. CDC. Published February 11, 2022. Accessed February 14, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html

In AMA Style Format, the citation for a news article should include the following information, in this order:

• Name of newspaper or news website (in italics)
• Date of publication

Gorman J. Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots. The New York Times. January 13, 2020. Accessed January 14, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/science/living-robots-xenobots.html

Bluebook Format

One author: Daniel J. Solove, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale University Press 2007).

Two or more authors: Martha Nussbaum and Saul Levmore, eds., The Offensive Internet: Speech, Privacy, and Reputation (Harvard University Press 2010).

Journal article

One author: Daniel J. Solove, “A Taxonomy of Privacy,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 154, no. 3 (January 2006): 477-560.

Two or more authors: Ethan Katsh and Andrea Schneider, “The Emergence of Online Dispute Resolution,” Journal of Dispute Resolution 2003, no. 1 (2003): 7-19.

One author: Daniel J. Solove, “A Taxonomy of Privacy,” GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 113, 2005.

Two or more authors: Ethan Katsh and Andrea Schneider, “The Emergence of Online Dispute Resolution,” Cyberlaw Research Paper Series Paper No. 00-5, 2000.

WebsiteElectronic Frontier Foundation, “Surveillance Self-Defense,” accessed April 8, 2023, https://ssd.eff.org/.

News article

One author: Mark Sherman, “Court Deals Major Blow to Net Neutrality Rules,” ABC News, January 14, 2014, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/court-deals-major-blow-net-neutrality-rules-21586820.

Two or more authors: Siobhan Hughes and Brent Kendall, “AT&T Wins Approval to Buy Time Warner,” Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-wins-approval-to-buy-time-warner-1528847249.

In-Text Citation: (Author’s last name Year of Publication: Page Number)

Example: (Smith 2010: 35)

Reference List Citation: Author’s last name First Initial. Title of Book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication.

Example: Smith J. Biology: A Textbook. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2010.

Example: (Johnson 2014: 27)

Reference List Citation: Author’s last name First Initial. Title of Article. Abbreviated Title of Journal. Year of publication;Volume(Issue):Page Numbers.

Example: Johnson S. The role of dopamine in addiction. J Neurosci. 2014;34(8): 2262-2272.

Example: (Brown 2018: 10)

Reference List Citation: Author’s last name First Initial. Title of Paper. Paper presented at: Name of Conference; Date of Conference; Place of Conference.

Example: Brown R. The impact of social media on mental health. Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association; August 2018; San Francisco, CA.

Example: (World Health Organization 2020: para. 2)

Reference List Citation: Author’s last name First Initial. Title of Webpage. Name of Website. URL. Published date. Accessed date.

Example: World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. WHO website. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-coronavirus-2019. Updated August 17, 2020. Accessed September 5, 2021.

Example: (Smith 2019: para. 5)

Reference List Citation: Author’s last name First Initial. Title of Article. Title of Newspaper or Magazine. Year of publication; Month Day:Page Numbers.

Example: Smith K. New study finds link between exercise and mental health. The New York Times. 2019;May 20: A6.

Purpose of Research Paper Citation

The purpose of citing sources in a research paper is to give credit to the original authors and acknowledge their contribution to your work. By citing sources, you are also demonstrating the validity and reliability of your research by showing that you have consulted credible and authoritative sources. Citations help readers to locate the original sources that you have referenced and to verify the accuracy and credibility of your research. Additionally, citing sources is important for avoiding plagiarism, which is the act of presenting someone else’s work as your own. Proper citation also shows that you have conducted a thorough literature review and have used the existing research to inform your own work. Overall, citing sources is an essential aspect of academic writing and is necessary for building credibility, demonstrating research skills, and avoiding plagiarism.

Advantages of Research Paper Citation

There are several advantages of research paper citation, including:

• Giving credit: By citing the works of other researchers in your field, you are acknowledging their contribution and giving credit where it is due.
• Strengthening your argument: Citing relevant and reliable sources in your research paper can strengthen your argument and increase its credibility. It shows that you have done your due diligence and considered various perspectives before drawing your conclusions.
• Demonstrating familiarity with the literature : By citing various sources, you are demonstrating your familiarity with the existing literature in your field. This is important as it shows that you are well-informed about the topic and have done a thorough review of the available research.
• Providing a roadmap for further research: By citing relevant sources, you are providing a roadmap for further research on the topic. This can be helpful for future researchers who are interested in exploring the same or related issues.
• Building your own reputation: By citing the works of established researchers in your field, you can build your own reputation as a knowledgeable and informed scholar. This can be particularly helpful if you are early in your career and looking to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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• Citing sources

How to Cite Sources | Citation Generator & Quick Guide

Citing your sources is essential in  academic writing . Whenever you quote or paraphrase a source (such as a book, article, or webpage), you have to include a  citation crediting the original author.

Failing to properly cite your sources counts as plagiarism , since you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

The most commonly used citation styles are APA and MLA. The free Scribbr Citation Generator is the quickest way to cite sources in these styles. Simply enter the URL, DOI, or title, and we’ll generate an accurate, correctly formatted citation.

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Table of contents

When do you need to cite sources, which citation style should you use, in-text citations, reference lists and bibliographies.

Scribbr Citation Generator

Other useful citation tools

Citation examples and full guides, frequently asked questions about citing sources.

Citations are required in all types of academic texts. They are needed for several reasons:

• To avoid plagiarism by indicating when you’re taking information from another source
• To give proper credit to the author of that source
• To allow the reader to consult your sources for themselves

A citation is needed whenever you integrate a source into your writing. This usually means quoting or paraphrasing:

• To quote a source , copy a short piece of text word for word and put it inside quotation marks .
• To paraphrase a source , put the text into your own words. It’s important that the paraphrase is not too close to the original wording. You can use the paraphrasing tool if you don’t want to do this manually.

Citations are needed whether you quote or paraphrase, and whatever type of source you use. As well as citing scholarly sources like books and journal articles, don’t forget to include citations for any other sources you use for ideas, examples, or evidence. That includes websites, YouTube videos , and lectures .

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

Usually, your institution (or the journal you’re submitting to) will require you to follow a specific citation style, so check your guidelines or ask your instructor.

In some cases, you may have to choose a citation style for yourself. Make sure to pick one style and use it consistently:

• APA Style is widely used in the social sciences and beyond.
• MLA style is common in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography , common in the humanities
• Chicago author-date , used in the (social) sciences
• There are many other citation styles for different disciplines.

If in doubt, check with your instructor or read other papers from your field of study to see what style they follow.

In most styles, your citations consist of:

• Brief in-text citations at the relevant points in the text
• A reference list or bibliography containing full information on all the sources you’ve cited

In-text citations most commonly take the form of parenthetical citations featuring the last name of the source’s author and its year of publication (aka author-date citations).

An alternative to this type of in-text citation is the system used in numerical citation styles , where a number is inserted into the text, corresponding to an entry in a numbered reference list.

There are also note citation styles , where you place your citations in either footnotes or endnotes . Since they’re not embedded in the text itself, these citations can provide more detail and sometimes aren’t accompanied by a full reference list or bibliography.

A reference list (aka “Bibliography” or “Works Cited,” depending on the style) is where you provide full information on each of the sources you’ve cited in the text. It appears at the end of your paper, usually with a hanging indent applied to each entry.

The information included in reference entries is broadly similar, whatever citation style you’re using. For each source, you’ll typically include the:

• Author name
• Publication date
• Container (e.g., the book an essay was published in, the journal an article appeared in)
• Location (e.g., a URL or DOI , or sometimes a physical location)

The exact information included varies depending on the source type and the citation style. The order in which the information appears, and how you format it (e.g., capitalization, use of italics) also varies.

Most commonly, the entries in your reference list are alphabetized by author name. This allows the reader to easily find the relevant entry based on the author name in your in-text citation.

In numerical citation styles, the entries in your reference list are numbered, usually based on the order in which you cite them. The reader finds the right entry based on the number that appears in the text.

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Because each style has many small differences regarding things like italicization, capitalization , and punctuation , it can be difficult to get every detail right. Using a citation generator can save you a lot of time and effort.

Scribbr offers citation generators for both APA and MLA style. Both are quick, easy to use, and 100% free, with no ads and no registration required.

Just input a URL or DOI or add the source details manually, and the generator will automatically produce an in-text citation and reference entry in the correct format. You can save your reference list as you go and download it when you’re done, and even add annotations for an annotated bibliography .

Once you’ve prepared your citations, you might still be unsure if they’re correct and if you’ve used them appropriately in your text. This is where Scribbr’s other citation tools and services may come in handy:

Plagiarism Checker

Citation Checker

Citation Editing

Plagiarism means passing off someone else’s words or ideas as your own. It’s a serious offense in academia. Universities use plagiarism checking software to scan your paper and identify any similarities to other texts.

When you’re dealing with a lot of sources, it’s easy to make mistakes that could constitute accidental plagiarism. For example, you might forget to add a citation after a quote, or paraphrase a source in a way that’s too close to the original text.

Using a plagiarism checker yourself before you submit your work can help you spot these mistakes before they get you in trouble. Based on the results, you can add any missing citations and rephrase your text where necessary.

Try out the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker for free, or check out our detailed comparison of the best plagiarism checkers available online.

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Scribbr’s Citation Checker is a unique AI-powered tool that automatically detects stylistic errors and inconsistencies in your in-text citations. It also suggests a correction for every mistake.

Currently available for APA Style, this is the fastest and easiest way to make sure you’ve formatted your citations correctly. You can try out the tool for free below.

If you need extra help with your reference list, we also offer a more in-depth Citation Editing Service.

Our experts cross-check your in-text citations and reference entries, make sure you’ve included the correct information for each source, and improve the formatting of your reference page.

If you want to handle your citations yourself, Scribbr’s free Knowledge Base provides clear, accurate guidance on every aspect of citation. You can see citation examples for a variety of common source types below:

And you can check out our comprehensive guides to the most popular citation styles:

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

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Scholarly Impact and Citation Analysis

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• Analyzing Journals Using JCR
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• Citation Count for Books

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Citation Analysis

What is citation analysis?

Citation analysis is a way of measuring the relative importance or impact of an author, an article or a publication by counting the number of times that author, article, or publication has been cited by other works.

Why conduct citation analysis?

Citation analysis may be conducted for following purposes:

• To establish the impact that a particular work has had by identifying which other authors based their work upon it or cited it within their own papers.
• To learn more about a field or a topic by identifying seminal works in that area.
• To determine what impact a particular author has had within his/her own discipline and beyond by looking at his/her total number of citations broken down by discipline and by country.
• For promotion and tenure purposes by looking at the quality of sources where a scholar’s work has been published and cited

Sources for Citation Analysis: There are several tools available for citation analysis, some are subscription-based and others are free. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses and none of them covers the entire universe of scholarly publications. Therefore, it is important to use more than one tool to get a fuller picture of the scholarly impact of an author or a journal. Below is a table highlighting the characteristics of three major citation analysis tools:

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Cited Reference Search

Search for records that have cited a published work, and discover how a known idea or innovation has been confirmed, applied, improved, extended, or corrected. Find out who’s citing your research and the impact your work is having on other researchers in the world.

In the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, you can use cited reference search to find articles that refer to or include an illustration of a work of art or a music score; these references are called implicit citations .

• You may also search on Cited Year(s), Cited Volume, Cited Issue, Cited Pages, Cited Title, or Cited DOI
• Click Search; results from the cited reference index that include the work you’re searching appears on a table. Every reference on the cited reference index has been cited by at least one article indexed in the Web of Science. The first author of a cited work always displays in the Cited Author column. If the cited author you specified in step 1 is not the primary author, then the name of author you specified follows the name of the first author (click Show all authors). If you retrieve too many hits, return to the cited reference search page and add criteria for Cited Year, Cited Volume, Cited Issue, or Cited Page.
• cited reference is not a source article in the Web of Science
• reference may contain incomplete or inaccurate information, and can’t be linked to a source article
• reference may refer to a document from a publication outside the timespan of your subscription; for example, if the article was published in 1992, but your subscription only gives you access to 20 years of data
• cited item may refer to a document from a publication not covered by a database in your subscription
• Click Search to view your results.

Click View abbreviation list to see the abbreviations of journal and conference proceedings titles used as cited works; this list will open in a new browser tab.

When you complete a cited reference search, the number of citing items you retrieve may be smaller than the number listed in the Citing Articles column if your institution's subscription does not include all years of the database. In other words, the count in the Citing Articles column is not limited by your institution's subscription. However, your access to records in the product is limited by your institution's subscription.

• Enter the name of the first author of a multi-authored article or book
• Enter an abbreviated journal title followed by an asterisk or the first one or two significant words of a book title followed by an asterisk.
• Try searching for the cited reference without entering a cited year in order to retrieve variations of the same cited reference. You can always return to the Cited Reference Search page and enter a cited year if you get too many references.
• When searching for biblical references, enter Bible in the Cited Author field and the name of the book ( Corinthinans* , Matthew* Leviticus *, etc.) in the Cited Work field. Ensure that you use the asterisk (*) wildcard in your search.

Follow these steps to find articles that have cited Brown, M.E. and Calvin, W.M. Evidence for crystalline water and ammonia ices on Pluto's satellite Charon. Science . 287 (5450): 107-109. January 7, 2000:

• On the Cited Reference Search page, enter Brown M* in the Cited Author field.
• Enter Science* in the Cited Work field.
• Click Search to go to the Cited Reference Search table. This page shows all the results from the Web of Science cited reference index that matched the query.
• Page through the results to find this reference:

• Select the check box to the left of the reference.
• Click the See Results button to go to the Cited Reference Search Results page to see the list of articles that cite the article by Brown and Calvin.

Every cited reference in the Cited Reference Index contains enough information to uniquely identify the document. Because only essential bibliographic information is captured, and because author names and source publication titles are unified as much as possible, the same reference cited in two different records should appear the same way in the database. This unification is what makes possible the Times Cited number on the Full Record page.

However, not all references to the same publication can be unified. As a consequence, a cited reference may have variations in the product.

For example, consider these variations of a reference to an article by A.J. Bard published in volume 374 of Nature:

The first reference contains the correct volume number and other bibliographic information. The View Record link takes you to the Full Record, which has a Times Cited count of 31.

The second reference contains a different volume number and it does not have a View Record link. Because a journal cannot have two different volume numbers in the same publication year, it is obvious that this is an incorrect reference to the same article.

Click Export at the top of the Cited Reference Search table to export the cited reference search results to Excel.

Articles indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded cite books, patents, and other types of publications in addition to other articles. You can do a cited reference search for a patent to find journal articles that have cited it.

If you know the patent number, enter it in the Cited Work field. If you do not know the patent number, try entering the name of the first listed inventor or patent assignee in the Cited Author field. For example, to find references to U.S. patent 4096196-A, enter 4096196 in the Cited Work field. If you also subscribe to Derwent Innovations Index and the patent is included in the Derwent database, the patents you find in the citation index will be linked to the corresponding full patent records in Derwent Innovations Index.

Self-citations refer to cited references that contain an author name that matches the name of the author of a citing article.

You may want to eliminate self-citations from the results of a Cited Reference Search by combining a Cited Reference Search with a search by the source author.

• Perform a Cited Reference Search to find items that cite the works of a particular author. Ensure that you complete both steps of a Cited Reference Search.
• Go to the search page. Enter the name of the same author in the Author field. Click the Search button.
• Go to the advanced search page.
• Combine the two searches you just completed in a Boolean NOT expression (for example, #1 NOT #2 ). The results of the Search (the items written by the author) should be the set on the right-hand side of the operator.

Articles indexed in the product cite books, patents, and other types of publications in addition to other articles. You can do a cited reference search on a book to find journal articles that have cited it.

You should identify a book by entering the name of the first listed author in the Cited Author field and the first word or words of the title in the Cited Work field. Many cited works are abbreviated. If you are not sure how a word has been spelled or abbreviated, enter the first few letters of the word, followed by an asterisk. For example, to search for records of articles that cite Edith Hamilton's book Mythology , you would enter Hamilton E* in the Cited Author field and Myth* in the Cited Work field.

Do not enter a year in the Cited Year field. Authors often cite a particular edition of a book, and the cited year is the year of the edition they are citing. Generally, you want to find all articles that cite a book, regardless of the particular edition cited.

For example, enter the following data on the Cited Reference Search page, and then click Search .

CITED AUTHOR Tuchman BW

CITED WORK Guns*

CITED YEAR 1962

Note the number of references that are retrieved. Now repeat the search using the following data:

CITED AUTHOR Tuchman B*

See how many more references you retrieved? Notice that the author has been cited as Tuchman B as well as Tuchman BW. Also, notice how many different cited years and cited page numbers there are for the same work.

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ENG 110 - Schaaf: MLA Citations

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This guide is based on the 8th edition (2016) of the MLA Handbook .

MLA  (Modern Language Association) uses the author/page number method for in-text citation . Include in parentheses the author's last name and the appropriate page number after all direct quotations and paraphrased content in your paper: Example: (Pollan 42). For more information, including other methods of incorporating quotes and paraphrased content in your paper, see the "Avoiding Plagiarism" tab and the Recommended Guides section of the "Basics" tab.

For the Works Cited list, MLA  requires the use of hanging indents .

Watch these:

Author: Use the full name as given in the source

Author: If one or two authors, give the full names of both

Author: If three or more authors, give the first author and indicate: et al.

Article title: Use " " (not italics or underline)

Journal/Book title: Use italics

URL: omit http:// or https://

URL: Use a DOI if one is available.  If not, use a permalink/ persistent/ stable link if one is available.

Samples of Modern Language Association (8th, 2016) Basic Format for the Works Cited list

- Capitalize all significant title and s ubtitle words. - Place of publication is normally not included.

Lastname, Firstname M. and Firstname2 Lastname2.  Title of Book: Subtitle of Book .  

     Publisher, Year of Publication.  

Lastname, Firstname M., et al., editors.  Title of Book: Subtitle of Book .  

      Publisher, Year of Publication.

Article in a Periodical

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal,

     vol. nn, no. nn, date of issue, pp. nn-nn.  

Article in a Periodical, Retrieved from a Library Database

- Give the inclusive page numbers when given.

Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal,      vol. nn, no. nn, date of issue, pp. nn-nn.  Database name,      DOIorPersistentURL.  

Article in an Online Periodical (not from a library database)

Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal,      vol. nn, no. nn, date of issue, pp. nn-nn.  Website name ,      URL.

Web Document/Page/Report, Web Video, Web Images

 - If citing a whole web site, omit "Title of Work".  - The Accessed date (including the word, Accessed) is generally optional, but it is  required if there is no publication date .   Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Work.” Website name,

     Day published Month published Year published,

     URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

Citing Digital Content in MLA (7th, 2009)

Taken from Lafayette College's Archives and Special Collections website. You can access it directly here .

Digital Collections Note: MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. For instructors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggest that the URL appear within angle brackets after the date of access. The URL is given in the samples below.

Magazine Article : Shaw, Diane Windham. “Lafayette and Slavery.” Lafayette Alumni News. Winter 2007. Digital. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/magazine/lafalummag- 20070100>.

Newspaper Article : Kelley, Michael. “Damaged Futures. Research Finds Student Athletes are at Greater Risk for Long-Term Health.” The Lafayette. 9 May 2014. Digital. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/newspaper/20140509>.

Photograph : “Students Disrupt ROTC Parade on Fisher Field.” 4 May 1969. Historical Photograph Collection. Digital. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/historicalphotos/hpc-0269>. 

MLA Style Format

Recommended Guides

These are comprehensive citation guides recommended by librarians.

• APA  (7th, 2020)
• MLA   (8th, 2016)
• Chicago  (17th, 2017)  
• APA Formatting and Style Guide  (7th, 2020)
• MLA Formatting and Style Guide (9th, 2021)
• Chicago Formatting and Style Guide (17th, 2017)  
• APA Format and Style Guide  (7th, 2020)
• MLA Formatting and Style Guide  (9th, 2021)
• Chicago Formatting and Style Guide  (17th, 2017)
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Ten simple rules for responsible referencing

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Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Department of Health, Ethics & Society, Maastricht, the Netherlands

We researchers aim to read and write publications containing high-quality prose, exceptional data, arguments, and conclusions, embedded firmly in existing literature while making abundantly clear what we are adding to it. Through the inclusion of references, we demonstrate the foundation upon which our studies rest as well as how they are different from previous work. That difference can include literature we dispute or disprove, arguments or claims we expand, and new ideas, suggestions, and hypotheses we base upon published work. This leads to the question of how to decide which study or author to cite, and in what way.

Writing manuscripts requires, among so much more, decisions on which previous studies to include and exclude, as well as decisions on how exactly that inclusion takes place. A well-referenced manuscript places the authors’ argument in the proper knowledge context and thereby can support its novelty, its value, and its visibility. Citations link one study to others, creating a web of knowledge that carries meaning and allows other researchers to identify work as relevant in general and relevant to them in particular.

On the one hand, citation practices create value by tying together relevant scientific contributions, regardless of whether they are large or small. In the process, they confer or withhold credit, contributing to the relative status of published work in the literature. On the other hand, citation practices exist in the context of current regimes of evaluating science. While it may go unnoticed in daily writing practices, the act of including a single reference in a study is thus subject to value-based criteria internal to science (e.g., content, relevance, credit) and external to science (e.g., accountability, performance).

Accordingly, referencing is not a neutral act. Citations are a form of scientific currency, actively conferring or denying value. Citing certain sources—and especially citing them often—legitimises ideas, solidifies theories, and establishes claims as facts. References also create transparency by allowing others to retrace your steps. Referencing is thus a moral issue, an issue upon which multiple values in science converge. Citing competitors adds to their profiles, citing papers from a specific journal adds to its impact factor, citing supervisors or lab mates helps build your own profile, and citing the right papers helps establish your familiarity with the field. All of these translate into pressures on scientists to cite specific sources, from peers, editors, and others. Fong and Wilhite demonstrate the abundance of so-called coercive citation practices [ 1 ]. Also, citation-based metrics have proliferated as proxies for quality and impact over the years [ 2 – 4 ], only to be currently subjected to significant and highly relevant critique [ 5 – 8 ]. To cite well, or to reference responsibly, is thus a matter of concern to all scientists.

Here, I offer 10 simple rules for responsible referencing. Scientists as authors produce references, and as readers and reviewers, they assess and evaluate references. Through this symmetrical relationship to literature that all scientists share, they take responsibility for tying together all knowledge it contains. Producing and evaluating references are, however, distinct processes, warranting different responsibilities. Respecting this dual relationship researchers have with literature, the first six rules primarily refer to producing a citation and the responsibilities this entails. The second set of four rules refers to evaluating citations and the meaning they have or acquire once they have become part of a text.

Rule 1: Include relevant citations

All scholarly writing requires a demonstration of the relevance of the questions asked, a display of the methods used, a rationale for the use of materials, and a discussion of issues relevant to the content of the publication. All of these are done, at least in large part, by including citations to relevant previous work. Omitting such references can wrongfully suggest that your own publication is the origin of an idea, a question, a method, or a critique, thereby illegitimately appropriating them. Citations identify where ideas have come from, and consulting the cited works allows readers of your text to study them more closely, as well as to evaluate whether your use of them is appropriate.

A single exception exists when facts, findings, or methods have become part of scientific or scholarly canon. There is no need to include a citation on the claim that DNA is built out of four bases, nor do you have to cite Kjell Kleppe or Kary Mullis every time you use PCR (neither do I right now). However, the decision as to when something truly becomes part of canon can be quite difficult and will include periods of adjustment (with irregular citation) and negotiation (on whether to cite or not).

Rule 2: Read the publications you cite

Citation is not an administrative task. First, a single paper can be cited for multiple reasons, ranging from reported data to methods, and can be cited both positively and negatively in the literature. The only way to identify whether its content is relevant as support for your claim is to read it in full.

Second, the collection of citations included to support your work and argument is one of the elements from which your work draws credibility. The same goes for the citations you include to criticise, dispute, or disprove. As a consequence, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The quality of the publication you trust and upon which you confer authority codetermines the quality and credibility of your work. Citation rates, especially on the journal level, do not correspond well to research quality [ 9 ], and they conflate positive and negative citations, not distinguishing authority conferred or authority that is challenged. To cite meaningfully and credibly requires that you consult the content of a publication rather than whether others have cited it, as a criterion for citation.

Rule 3: Cite in accordance with content

If, at some phase in the research, you have decided that a specific study merits citation, the issue of specifically how and where to cite it deserves explicit consideration. Mere inclusion does not suffice. Sources deserve credit for the exact contribution they offer, not their contribution in general. This may mean that you need to cite a single source multiple times throughout your own argument, including explanations or indications why.

A specific way to break Rule 3 is in the form of the so-called ‘Trojan citation’ [ 10 ]. The Trojan citation arises when a publication reporting similar findings to your own is cited in the context of a discussion of a minor issue, ignoring (sometimes deliberately) its key argument or contribution. By focussing on a trivial detail, the Trojan citation obscures the true significance of the cited work. As a consequence, it hides that your work is not as novel as it seems. As a questionable citation practice, a Trojan citation can be used to satisfy reviewers’ or editors’ requests to include a reference to a relevant paper. Alternatively, a Trojan citation may emerge unknowingly when (1) you are unaware of the content of a cited publication (not adhering to Rule 2 creates a very significant risk of being unable to follow Rule 3) or (2) disputes exist in the scientific community or among the authors on the contribution and/or quality of a scientific publication (in which case, Rule 4 will help).

Rule 4: Cite transparently, not neutrally

Citing, even in accordance with content, requires context. This is especially important when it happens as part of the article’s argument. Not all citations are a part of an article’s argument. Citations to data, resources, materials, and established methods require less, if any, context. As part of the argument, however, the mere inclusion of a citation, even when in the right spot, does not convey the value of the reference and, accordingly, the rationale for including it. In a recent editorial, the Nature Genetics editors argued against so-called neutral citation. This citation practice, they argue, appears neutral or procedural yet lacks required displays of context of the cited source or rationale for including [ 11 ]. Rather, citations should mention assessments of value, worth, relevance, or significance in the context of whether findings support or oppose reported data or conclusions.

This flows from the realisation that citations are political, even though that term is rarely used in this context. Researchers can use them to accurately represent, inflate, or deflate contributions, based on (1) whether they are included and (2) whether their contributions are qualified. Context or rationale can be qualified by using the right verbs. The contribution of a specific reference can be inflated or deflated through the absence of or use of the wrong qualifying term (‘the authors suggest’ versus ‘the authors establish’; ‘this excellent study shows’ versus ‘this pilot study shows’). If intentional, it is a form of deception, rewriting the content of scientific canon. If unintentional, it is the result of sloppy writing. Ask yourself why you are citing prior work and which value you are attributing to it, and whether the answers to these questions are accessible to your readers.

Rule 5: Cite yourself when required

In the context of critical discussions of citations and evaluations of citation-based metrics, self-citation has almost become a taboo. It is important to realise, though, that self-citation serves an important function by showing incremental iterative advancement of your work [ 12 ]. As a consequence, your previous work or that of the group in which you are embedded should be cited in accordance with all of the rules above. The amount of acceptable self-citation is very likely to differ between fields; smaller fields (niche fields) are likely to (legitimately) exhibit more.

This does not mean that self-citation is always unproblematic. For instance, excessive self-citation can suggest salami slicing, a publication strategy in which elements of a single study are published separately [ 13 ]. This questionable research practice, in tandem with self-citation, aims to inflate publication and citation metrics.

Rule 6: Prioritise the citations you include

Many journals have restrictions on the number of references authors are allowed to include. The exact number varies per publisher, journal, and article type and can be as low as three (for a correspondence item in Nature ). Even if no reference limit exists, other journals impose a word limit that includes references, effectively also capping the amount of references. Coping with these limits sometimes requires difficult decisions to omit citations you may feel are legitimate or even necessary. In order to deal with this issue and avoid random removal of references, all desired citations require prioritisation. A few rules of thumb, shown in Box 1 , will help decisions on reference priority.

Box 1: Reference prioritisation

‘Ten simple sub-rules for prioritising references’ can help to facilitate prioritisation. In most cases, a subset of the 10 sub-rules will suffice. First, prioritise anew for each publication. Prioritisations cannot (easily) be copied from one study to another. Second, prioritise per section (e.g., introduction, methods, discussion), not across the entire paper. Different sections require different types of support. Third, for the introduction, prioritise reviews, allowing broad context for relevance and aim. Fourth, for the discussion, prioritise empirical papers, allowing detailed accounts of relative contribution. Fifth, prioritise reviewed over un- or prereviewed papers (e.g., editorials, preprints, etc.). Sixth, deprioritise self-citations. Seventh, limit the number of citations to support a specific claim, if necessary, to a single citation. Eighth, move methodological citations to supplementary (online) information. Ninth, in cases of equal relevance, prioritise citation of female first or last authors to help repair gender imbalances in science. Tenth, request the inclusion of additional references with the editors, arguing that you have used all of the previous nine sub-rules.

Rule 7: Evaluate citations as the choices that they are

Research publications are not mere vessels of data or findings. They convey a narrative explaining why questions are worth asking, what their answers may mean, how these answers were reached, why they are to be trusted, and more. They also have a purpose in the sense that they will act as support for other studies to come. Each of the elements of their story is supported by links to other studies, and each of those links is the result of an active choice by the author(s) in the context of the goal they wish to achieve by their inclusion.

At the other end of the narrative, readers assess and evaluate the story constantly, asking whether it could have been told differently. The realisation that narratives can be told differently, supported by other citations to other prior work, does not disqualify them. Both the story and the choice of citations are political choices meant to provide the argument with as much power, credibility, and legitimacy the author(s) can muster. They are tailored to the audience the authors seek to convince: their peers. The choice to include or exclude a reference can only be evaluated in the context of that narrative and the role they play in it. Peritz has provided a classification of citation roles to assist this evaluation [ 14 ].

Rule 8: Evaluate citations in their rhetorical context

Rhetorical strategies serve to convince and persuade. Narratives are but one of the tools that can be used to persuade audiences. Metaphors, numbers, and associations all feature in our research papers as tools to convince our readers. The genre of the scientific article has had centuries to evolve to incorporate many of them, with the goal of convincing readers that the author is right. Bazerman has literally written the book on this [ 15 ] and urges us to consider academic texts and their features as part of social and intellectual endeavours. Citations are a part of the social fabric of science in the sense that through citing specific sources, authors show their allegiance to schools of thought, communities, or, in the context of scientific controversies, which paradigm they consider themselves part of. Other rhetorical uses of citations include explicit citations to notable figures and their work, which can serve as appeals to authority, while long lists of citations can serve as proxies for well-studied subjects.

Consider the following: Authors can describe a field as well-studied and include three references—X, Y, and Z—as support for their claim. Alternatively, they can argue that a field is understudied but that three exceptions exist, i.e., X, Y, and Z. Understanding the value attributed to X, Y, and Z in that particular text requires assessment of the rhetorical strategies of the author(s).

Rule 9: Evaluate citations as framed communication

Authors use words to accomplish things and, in service of those goals, position their work and that of others. They frame prior work in a very specific way, supporting the arguments made. We all do. The positioning of X, Y, and Z either as the norm or as exceptions, as shown in Rule 8, is an example of framing. It is important to recognise such framing and that X, Y, and Z acquire meaning in the text as the result of the frame. There is no frameless communication, as Goffman [ 16 ] demonstrated. All messages and texts contain and require a frame—a structure of definitions and assumptions that help organise coherence, connections, and, ultimately, meaning—or in other words, a perspective on reality.

As a result, a citation is not a neutral line drawn between publications A and B. Rather, the representation of cited article A only acquires meaning in the context of citing in article B. Article A can be framed differently when cited in work B or C. It can be framed as innovative in B or dogmatic in C. Framing usually is not lying or deceiving; it is a normative positioning of evidence in context. Hence, a citation is a careful translation of a source’s relevant elements, which acquire meaning in that context only.

An important consequence of this is that merely counting citations of article A in the literature does not inform us of the value (or many types of value or lack thereof) of article A to the scientific community. This point also appears as the first principle in the Leiden Manifesto, which argues that quantitative metrics can only support qualitative metrics (i.e., reading with an attentive eye for politics, rhetoric, context, and frame—or as adhering to Rules 7–9). The Leiden Manifesto was published by bibliometricians and scholars of research evaluation following the 2014 conference on Science and Technology Indicators in Leiden, the Netherlands. It warns against the abuse of, among other things, citation-based research metrics [ 9 ].

Rule 10: Accept that citation cultures differ across boundaries

Despite critiques of the system, science is organised in such a way that citations continue to act as a currency that is represented as being universal [ 4 ]. However, citation practices are, for the most part, local practices, whether local to laboratories or department or local to disciplines. The average number of citations per paper differs between disciplines, and the way that citations are represented in the text and the value of being cited also differ radically [ 17 ]. What counts as proper citation practice in molecular biology—for instance, the inclusion of multiple references following a statement—is considered unacceptable in research ethics or science policy, in which single references require paragraphs of contextualisation and translation (see Rule 9 ). When reading a paper from an adjacent discipline, respect its different norms and conventions for responsible referencing and proper citation. If you are cited by a scientist from another discipline, assess that act as existing in a (however slightly) different citation culture.

Acknowledgments

I thank Maurice Zeegers and his team, who work on citation analyses, for stimulating me to think about the issue of citation more clearly, deeply, and critically, resulting in the considerations above. I also thank David Shaw for critical comments, moral support, and editorial assistance. As a closing note, as the human being that I am, I too have quite possibly referenced imperfectly in my previous work.

Funding Statement

The work that lead to this publication was, in part, supported by the ZonMW programme Fostering Responsible Research Practices, grant no. 45001005. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

A citation index for principal investigators

• Published: 03 December 2018
• Volume 118 , pages 305–320, ( 2019 )

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• Christoph Steinbrüchel   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8996-9090 1  

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A new citation index \(h_{\mathrm{PI}}\) for principal investigators (PIs) is defined in analogy to Hirsch’s index h , but based on renormalized citations of a PI’s papers. To this end, the authors of a paper are divided into two groups: PIs and non-PIs. A PI is defined as an assistant, associate or full professor at a university who supervises an individual research program. The citations for each paper of a certain PI are then divided by the number of PIs among the authors of that paper. Data are presented for a sample of 48 PIs of physics and physics-related engineering departments from a private research-oriented U.S. university using the ISI Web of Science citations database. The main result is that individual rankings based on h and \(h_{\mathrm{PI}}\) differ substantially. Also, to a good approximation across the sample of 48 PIs, one finds that \(h_{\mathrm{PI}} = h \,/ \sqrt{<}N_{\mathrm{PI}}{>}\) where \({<}N_{\mathrm{PI}}{>}\) is the average number of principal investigators for the papers of the PI in question. Similarly, \(h_{\mathrm{PI}} = \frac{1}{2} \sqrt{C_{\mathrm{tot}}\,/<N_{\mathrm{PI}}>}\) , where \(C_{\mathrm{tot}}\) is the total number of the PI’s citations. Approaches to broadending the scope of h or \(h_{\mathrm{PI}}\) with regard to highly cited papers are compared, and a new metric called \(h_x\) is introduced for such papers which represents the average number of citations exceeding the minimum of \(h^2\) in the h -core. A recent proposal to determine an optimum h-index is also discussed in relationship to actual citation data.

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• 27 March 2024

Tweeting your research paper boosts engagement but not citations

• Bianca Nogrady

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Even before complaints about X’s declining quality, posting a paper on the social-media platform did not lead to a boost in citations. Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty

Posting about a research paper on social-media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) doesn’t translate into a bump in citations, according to a study that looked at 550 papers.

The finding comes as scientists are moving away from the platform in the wake of changes after its 2022 purchase by entrepreneur Elon Musk.

An international group of 11 researchers, who by the end of the experiment had between them nearly 230,000 followers on X, examined whether there was evidence that posting about a paper would increase its citation rate.

“There certainly is a correlation, and that’s been found in a lot of papers. But very few people have ever looked to see whether there’s any experimental causation,” says Trevor Branch, a marine ecologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and lead author on the paper, published in PLoS ONE last week 1 .

Every month for ten months, each researcher was allocated a randomly selected primary research article or review from a journal of their choice to post about on their personal account. Four randomly chosen articles from the same edition of the journal served as controls, which the researchers did not post about. They conducted the experiment in the period before Elon Musk took ownership of what was then known as Twitter and complaints of its declining quality increased.

‘Nail in the coffin’

Three years after the initial posts, the team compared the citation rates for the 110 posted articles with those of the 440 control articles, and found no significant difference. The researchers did acknowledge that their followers might not have been numerous enough to detect a statistically significant effect on citations.

The rate of daily downloads for the posted papers was nearly fourfold higher on the day that they were shared, compared with controls. Shared papers also had significantly higher accumulated Altmetric scores both 30 days and three years after the initial post. Calculated by London-based technology company Digital Science, an Altmetric score, says Branch, is a measure of how many people have looked at a paper and are talking about it, but it’s not a reliable indicator of a paper’s scientific worth. “It’s thoroughly biased by how many people with large followings tweet about it,” he says.

The findings echo those of information scientist Stefanie Haustein at the University of Ottawa, whose 2013 study 2 found a low correlation between posts and citations.

Haustein says the problem with using posts as a metric is that, even a decade ago, there was a lot of noise in the signal.

“We actually showed that a lot of the counts on Twitter you would get were bots, it wasn’t even humans,” says Haustein, who wasn’t involved in the new study.

She says the more recent departure of scientists from the platform has been the final nail in the coffin of the idea that posting could increase citations.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00922-y

Branch, T. A. et al. PLoS ONE 19 , e0292201 (2024).

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AI has moved into its era of deployment; throughout 2022 and the beginning of 2023, new large-scale AI models have been released every month. These models, such as ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, Whisper, and DALL-E 2, are capable of an increasingly broad range of tasks, from text manipulation and analysis, to image generation, to unprecedentedly good speech recognition. These systems demonstrate capabilities in question answering, and the generation of text, image, and code unimagined a decade ago, and they outperform the state of the art on many benchmarks, old and new. However, they are prone to hallucination, routinely biased, and can be tricked into serving nefarious aims, highlighting the complicated ethical challenges associated with their deployment.

Although 2022 was the first year in a decade where private AI investment decreased, AI is still a topic of great interest to policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, and the public. Policymakers are talking about AI more than ever before. Industry leaders that have integrated AI into their businesses are seeing tangible cost and revenue benefits. The number of AI publications and collaborations continues to increase. And the public is forming sharper opinions about AI and which elements they like or dislike.

AI will continue to improve and, as such, become a greater part of all our lives. Given the increased presence of this technology and its potential for massive disruption, we should all begin thinking more critically about how exactly we want AI to be developed and deployed. We should also ask questions about who is deploying it—as our analysis shows, AI is increasingly defined by the actions of a small set of private sector actors, rather than a broader range of societal actors. This year’s AI Index paints a picture of where we are so far with AI, in order to highlight what might await us in the future.

- Jack Clark and Ray Perrault

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: dijiang: efficient large language models through compact kernelization.

Abstract: In an effort to reduce the computational load of Transformers, research on linear attention has gained significant momentum. However, the improvement strategies for attention mechanisms typically necessitate extensive retraining, which is impractical for large language models with a vast array of parameters. In this paper, we present DiJiang, a novel Frequency Domain Kernelization approach that enables the transformation of a pre-trained vanilla Transformer into a linear complexity model with little training costs. By employing a weighted Quasi-Monte Carlo method for sampling, the proposed approach theoretically offers superior approximation efficiency. To further reduce the training computational complexity, our kernelization is based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) operations. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves comparable performance to the original Transformer, but with significantly reduced training costs and much faster inference speeds. Our DiJiang-7B achieves comparable performance with LLaMA2-7B on various benchmark while requires only about 1/50 training cost. Code is available at this https URL .

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