Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
5-19-2021
Abstract
The study explores the inaccuracies in the author names in journal references cited in five randomly selected theses in the subject of Library and Information Science (LIS) submitted to Banasthali University, Rajasthan, India during the period of 2012-2016, choosing one thesis per year. Five hundred and forty eight verifiable journal references appended in five LIS theses contained 924 cited authors. Findings show that 149 (16.13%) author names cited in 114 (20.8%) journal references were inaccurate. Furthermore, these 149 inaccurate author names contained 169 inaccuracies in both first name and surname. A sum of 49 errors (including 32 errors of missing of first name/initials, 6 spelling errors in first name, and 11 wrong author’s initials) in first name or initials of cited author(s) were detected. Errors related to surname of cited author(s) were counted 70 (including 45 surname spelling errors, and 25 wrong surnames). A total of 37 (4%) authors were completely missing from the five LIS theses’ reference lists. The LIS researchers have finished the academic credibility of these authors. Apart from these faults, 13 unreal and wrong author names were added in journal references. Thesis T4 had the highest errors 62 (36.69%) while thesis T1 had the lowest errors 14 (8.28%) in the author’s name element in cited journal references. Research scholars had mutually interchanged the first name and surname in 25 author’s names in several cited references. The research scholars need to be focused on instructions given in the referencing style guide.