The quality of citations in major international obstetrics and gynecology journals

Abstract

Objective: Our goal was to determine the error rate in references in articles published in three major international journals in obstetrics and gynecology.

Study design: All issues (excluding supplements) for the year 1995 of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology were examined. References were numbered sequentially, and 50 randomly selected references from each journal were checked against the original for accuracy.

Results: Errors were found in the majority of references. The lowest error rate was 55.6% from the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and the highest was 66.7% from the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The difference between journals was not statistically significant. The most frequent types of error were in the title of the article or in the authors' names.

Conclusions: Error rates in major international journals in obstetrics and gynecology are high, and care must be taken by authors and journal staff to improve the quality of published articles.