Unravelling Citation Rules: A Comparative Analysis of Referencing Instruction Patterns in Scopus-Indexed Journals

Abstract

The article analyses the citation rules of 270 scholarly journals indexed in the Scopus database to describe editorial politics in Czech and Lithuanian journals as representatives of local publishing markets. The quantitative analysis identified standard practices in in-text referencing, citation styles, using examples of references as guides for authors, and using DOI. We also statistically tested differences among journals according to countries, thematic focus, publishers, Open Access policies and publishing languages. Most (54.1%) journals did not name any citation style; this approach was the most common in life sciences and agricultural and natural sciences. The APA was the most commonly named citation style, mainly used by journals in the social sciences. The scientific field was the most vital determinant of citation rules—citation styles and in-text referencing. 84.4% of journals used examples of references as a main specification of citation style. We also found some country specifics, such as using ISO 690 and footnotes in the Czech Republic, and strong support of APA and requesting DOI in Lithuania. We drew attention to the challenges and disadvantages of citation practices that complicate authors' work, submission of articles, errors in citation records and automated linking of documents via references.