Home > Scientific citation

In the mathematically-predictive hard sciences, citation is usually viewed as a necessary evil. Developing arguments 'from fundamentals' is more desirable but often impossible as the long chains of logic are harder to follow and remember. Accordingly, some reliance on authoritative prior scientific consensusScientific consensus refers to the agreement, reached through a process of experimentation through the application of scientific method, theoretical reasoning, and peer review, within a particular field of science that a set of theories fit the current ev is the norm, either with citation or not, e.g. a paper citing "F=MA" does not in general include a formal citation to Isaac NewtonKneller's portrait of 1689. Sir Isaac Newton ( December 25, 1642 March 20, 1727 by the Julian calendar then in use; or January 4, 1643 March 31, 1727 by the Gregorian calendar) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and alchemis, although that's implied. It is more recent or controversial work that will in general require citations, and thus reliance on a very few such works is advised by most scientists, to avoid building on a still-shifting foundationFoundation may be: the founding of an institution. a type of makeup. foundation (architecture) in architecture, the foundation of a building is the portion of its structure that serves to transfer the weight of the building into the ground itself. Most fo.

In the more model-driven 'soft' or 'human' sciences, where predictionPrediction of future events is an ancient human wish. An apocryphal saying states: "it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future". Current research on prediction is going with intense effort by Benzi K. Ahamed, Nishant J. George and Sa and experimentIn the scientific method, an experiment is a set of actions and observations, performed to verify or falsify a hypothesis or research a causal relationship between phenomena. The experiment is a cornerstone in empirical approach to knowledge. See the list and controlThe word control has a number of different meanings: Often control is directing influence. A Control experiment is an experiment where the variable that is being investigated is kept constant. Control theory is a topic in engineering. control (sociology)s are less common, citation is viewed somewhat differently. Terminolog rather than logicIn ordinary language, logic is the reasoning used to reach a conclusion from a set of assumptions. More formally, logic is the study of inference—the process whereby new assertions are produced from already established ones. As such, of particular concern is the key to an effective peer review, and so citation establishes the glossary and the definitions which the reviewer s should keep in mind while reading. The number of citations should still be few, as there is risk of some ' name space clash ', resulting in confusion or inexact application of abstractions to concretes. This constraint tends to make papers in the soft sciences more prone to falling into a 'school of thought' and less able to stand on their own without some body of prior knowledge.

Modern scientists are sometimes judged by the number of times their work is cited by others - this is actually a key indicator of the relative importance of a work in science. Accordingly, while the scientist is motivated to have his work cited early and often and as widely as possible, all other scientists are motivated to have total numbers of citations kept low in order to retain the integrity of this means of judgment. A formal citation index tracks which referred and reviewed papers have referred which other such papers.

Disciplined citation of prior works in mathematics and science is known at least as far back as Euclid. Late in the first millennium, Islamic scholars developed their practice of isnad, or "backing", which established the validity of sayings of Muhammad in the hadith. The Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy extended this into fiqh or jurisprudence, while the Mutazilite school used the traditional methods and applied them to science. Roman Catholic practice included constant quotation of Saints or Apostles and citing incidents of their lives as moral examples.

In some form, then, achieving authority by constant citation is thus a near-universal idea among the peoples of the Mediterranean, whose educated people were exposed to one or other of these practices well before the European Renaissance and the emergence of scientific method.

In patent law the citation of previous works, or prior art, helps establish the uniqueness of the invention being described. However, the focus in this practice is to claim originality for commercial purpose s, and so the author is strongly motivated to avoid citing works that cast doubt on its uniqueness. This is thus not "scientific" citation, although Baruch Lev and other advocates of accounting reform consider the number of times a patent is cited to be a significant metric of patent quality and thus of innovation.

See also: citation, citation index, peer review, prior art, scientific method, philosophy of science