Abstract:PurposeUsing chat transcripts from Indiana University Libraries, the authors examined a subset of transcripts involving citations. From this analysis, they propose improvements for citation assistance as a holistic service.Design/methodology/approachTwo years of chat transcripts were examined and questions containing citation-related keywords were segregated for further examination. The authors used a test data set to create a coding scheme for the questions and responses. This scheme was then applied to all t… Show more
“…Even without agreement on how much responsibility should fall to librarians to teach proper citing, students and faculty naturally look to us for help. Regardless of personal preferences, librarians will inevitably be approached for assistance with citations [5,6].…”
Background: Libraries provide access to databases with auto-cite features embedded into the services; however, the accuracy of these auto-cite buttons is not very high in humanities and social sciences databases.
Case Presentation: This case compares two biomedical databases, Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed, to see if either is reliable enough to confidently recommend to students for use when writing papers. A total of 60 citations were assessed, 30 citations from each citation generator, based on the top 30 articles in PubMed from 2010 to 2020.
Conclusions: Error rates were higher in Ovid MEDLINE than PubMed but neither database platform provided error free references.The auto-cite tools were not reliable. Zero of the sixty citations examined were 100% correct. Librarians should continue to advise students not to rely solely upon citation generators in these biomedical databases.
“…Even without agreement on how much responsibility should fall to librarians to teach proper citing, students and faculty naturally look to us for help. Regardless of personal preferences, librarians will inevitably be approached for assistance with citations [5,6].…”
Background: Libraries provide access to databases with auto-cite features embedded into the services; however, the accuracy of these auto-cite buttons is not very high in humanities and social sciences databases.
Case Presentation: This case compares two biomedical databases, Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed, to see if either is reliable enough to confidently recommend to students for use when writing papers. A total of 60 citations were assessed, 30 citations from each citation generator, based on the top 30 articles in PubMed from 2010 to 2020.
Conclusions: Error rates were higher in Ovid MEDLINE than PubMed but neither database platform provided error free references.The auto-cite tools were not reliable. Zero of the sixty citations examined were 100% correct. Librarians should continue to advise students not to rely solely upon citation generators in these biomedical databases.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.