Accuracy of Reference Citations in Five Entomology Journals

The bibliographical reference citations in 5 core entomology journals were examined for accuracy to determine if error rates were similar to those of other fields. The journals selected included Archives of Insect Biochemistry, Ecological Entomology, Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Journal of Insect Physiology, and Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology. Citations printed in the 1st issue of 1992 were compared with the original publications to determine their accuracy. An average of 30.1% of citations in the journals contained 1 or more errors. Most errors appeared in journal article titles, followed by errors in authors\u27 names and in pagination. Of the 49 articles examined, only 3 had completely error-free reference lists.