A review of the accuracy of references in the journal Emergency Medicine.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the accuracy of references in articles published in Emergency Medicine, and to categorize these errors.


METHODS
All the references in Volume 12 of Emergency Medicine were listed and numbered consecutively. A sample of 100 references was then selected. Each reference was then checked, initially on an electronic database, with the original article being used as the gold standard.


RESULTS
1469 citations were included in the study. A random sample of 100 was taken and examined in detail. 35 papers were shown to have at least one error, and a total of 41 errors were found. The maximum number of errors in one paper was 3. These errors are analysed in detail.


CONCLUSIONS
Poor reference accuracy is a common problem in medical literature, and Emergency Medicine is not immune to these failings. Authors need to take more care to ensure that the accuracy of citations improves.
O'Connor
Alan E
AE
The Canberra Hospital, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. alan.oconnor@bigpond.com
D001634:Bibliographies as Topic; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011643:Publishing