HOW ACCURATE ARE REFERENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW-ZEALAND JOURNALOF SURGERY

Background: The accuracy of reference citations in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery was evaluated. All of the references fr om 1995 (Volume 65) were included (n = 4092). Methods: A sample of 100 references was randomly selected and examined in detail by comparison with the original references. Results: Overall, 60% of citations cont ained errors. Errors were categorized by dividing references into six elements. A total of 38.8% of citations contained an error in one elem ent, 15.6% contained errors in two elements, 4.4% contained errors in three elements, and 4.4% contained errors in four elements of the refe rence. The most common errors were errors of authors' names and errors in the title. Conclusions: Contributors to this journal should take m ore care in checking references in their manuscripts before publicatio n.