Mehdi Rahmani; Amir Reza Asnafi; Mohammad Amin Erfanmanesh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: References in papers, articles, dissertations and so on are very important. Readers use these references in their works so citations and references must be accuarated. Citation behavior has its issues and problems. There are some errors in documentation of evidences that can ...
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Background and Objectives: References in papers, articles, dissertations and so on are very important. Readers use these references in their works so citations and references must be accuarated. Citation behavior has its issues and problems. There are some errors in documentation of evidences that can effect on quality of scientific works. Wrong citation can disconnect relation between scholar and resource. It means that with existing error in references or citations a scholar can not find needed resources and linking between text and citation can not be appeared. So, the aim of this study is to verify the accuracy of citation of defended thesis in Shahid Beheshti University in the period of 2012-2015. Methodology: The method of research in light of the practical purpose and data collection method is surveying. This research is in the form of survey and the statistical population included all thesis defended in the academic years 2012-2015 in Shahid Beheshti University; the total number is 6251. The total amount of citations was 287269 which based on Cochran formula with 98% confidence, finally 2381 citation were selected as the sample in this study.The sampling method was stratified random. With regard to the components of the citation document type and the citation proof language, eight citations from each dissertation were examined, in each of the theses, the following citations were examined: 1. The first Persian Article citations and the first Latin Article citations. 2. The first Persian book citation and the first Latin book citation. 3. The first Persian dissertation citation and the first Latin dissertation citation. 4. The first Persian Web citation and the first Latin Web citation. The method for collecting data in this study was direct observation. Firstly, all selected citations, from Persian databases, Latin and general search engines, were searched for the existence or absence of such a source. In the second stage, the validity of each citations was verified according to the retrieved information. In the next step, the errors of each citation were recorded in the checklist. Then, the problems and errors of each of the citations were based on the results of the retrieval in the checklist. At the same time, during the research process, each selected citation was recorded in accordance with the school's style sheet, and the errors of each of the elements in the dedicated section were recorded in the checklist for these errors. Types of citation errors based on the division of work of Azadeh et al. (2009) were divided into two groups of large errors and small errors. Major errors or serious problems in retrieving the document or failing to retrieve the document. Examples include the wrong name of the authors, the deletion of the authors, the large misspellings in the title of the article, spelling mistakes in the limited edition of the publication, the year of the publication of the mistake or its exclusion, the elimination of the period or the mention of the wrong period, and so on. It is worth noting that in the total amount of errors, only one small error and a large error will be considered in each element, for example, in the title of the article on the existence of two errors: "mistakes in the title of the article" and "mistakes in the use of signs" ", Only a small error was calculated. Large citation errors include mistakes and mistakes such as mistakes in the name of the author / s, inaccuracy in the information about the publication year, inaccuracies in the information about the title of the article or the book, the mistakes of the information on the title of the journal, the error of the information about The issue number and period of publication, the mistake of the publisher's information, the misprinting of the publication information, and the small citation errors, including spelling mistakes in the various citation fields, are the falseness of the marks used in the citation. Findings: A total of 2381 citations were selected to verify the authenticity of documents which some of them didn't have some citation; Overall 1951 citations were examined. From examined citations, 68 numbers didn't retrieved and were blind citations. The results show that among the error sources based on the type of source citation, citation source language, and level of education component, faculty and the year of defending thesis, there is significant differences. However gender component does not have a significant impact on the accuracy of citation. Discussion: Several factors can be found in happening of unfavorable situation in theses. We can suggest some solution in order to optimize citiation management and copying in theses .such as allocating some part of thesis score in to validity of citiation provided, holding educational workshops of resource management and organizing unit in university to verify thesis citations
