Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
9-4
Examples of such sources, beginning with the best to cite, include the following:
• Journal articles (original reports and reviews)
• “In press” articles (accepted but not yet published) (Whenever possible, update “in press” references before submitting your article.)
•
Books, book chapters, and monographs
• Conference proceedings and meeting abstracts
•
Dissertations
• Internet sites of government agencies, such as the site for the National Cancer Institute
Sources that are less reliable are those that have not undergone expert review. Such sources must be mentioned in parentheses in the text but are not included in the References section. They include the following:
• “Submitted” articles (submitted but not yet accepted)
•
Personal communications (You must obtain written permission from your “personal communications” source. Some jou rnals require you to submit this permission with your manuscript.)
•
Unpublished results
Tips for Selecting Your Sources
Follow these tips when selecting your sources:
• Select first the most valid, the most important, the most available, and the most recent sources. • For data directly relevant to your hypothesis, cite original research articles rather than abstracts or reviews of research articles. • Cite review articles for background or less relevant information, broad ideas, and topics on which many papers have been published. • Cite dissertations, meeting abstracts, personal communications, and unpublished data only if a full-length paper on the subject has not yet been published.
• Cite your own published papers whenever appropriate.
• Avoid obscure references or references that would be difficult for reviewers to find.
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