title: Quotational and reference accuracy in surgical journals. A continuing peer review problem.
abstract: Fifty randomly selected references from a single monthly issue of The American Journal of Surgery; Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics; and Surgery were evaluated for citation and quotation errors. Thirteen major and 41 minor citation errors were found in the three journals. Thirty-seven major quotation errors were identified. The data support the hypothesis that authors do not check their references or may not even read them. This hypothesis may be expanded to maintain that reviewers do not check references.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nassau County Medical Center, East Meadow, NY 11554.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Nadjari
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Burchell
mesh_terms: D013502:General Surgery; D010380:Peer Review / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011643:Publishing / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States