How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

Citations in the text
How to cite the references
Preparing the text

Many authors use slipshod methods in citing literature. A common offender is the “handwaving reference,” in which the reader is glibly referred to “Smith’s elegant contribution” without any hint of what Smith reported or how Smith’s results relate to the present author’s results. If a reference is worth citing, the reader should be told why.

Even worse is the nasty habit some authors have of insulting the authors of previous studies. It is probably all right to say, “Smith (2015) did not study.…” But it is not all right to say, “Smith (2015) totally overlooked, …,” “Smith (2015) ignored, …,” or “Smith (2015) failed to.…”

Some authors get into the habit of putting all citations at the end of sentences. This is wrong. The reference should be placed at that point in the sentence to which it applies. Michaelson (1990, p. 92) gave this example:

We have examined a digital method of spread-spectrum modulation for multiple-access satellite communication and for digital mobile radiotelephony.1,2

Note how much clearer the citations become when the sentence is recast as follows:

We have examined a digital method of spread-spectrum modulation for use with Smith’s development of multiple-access communication1 and with Brown’s technique of digital mobile radiotelephony.2