This is another very important issue. I have reviewers tell me that I could not cite papers because they were not peer reviewed. So, to properly attribute the ideas and the data, I am supposed to give the citation in the text, but giving the full citation in text every time I cite something is a huge waste of space (not to mention breaking up thoughts and sentences). So much of my information is from non-peer reviewed sources (park reports, conference proceedings). In fact, I usually need to cite the same grey literature sources repeatedly.
I asked my adviser about what I should do about this. He had the same frustrations with this policy. As a way around it, he suggested publishing first in a journal without this policy and citing my paper in later publications. The problem with this is that I still cannot give credit where credit is due. Those reading my later papers will assume all citations of my earlier paper are referring to my own work and ideas. I think some journals have changed their policies, possibly recognizing the importance of recognizing data and ideas from non-peer reviewed sources. About five years ago Conservation Biology insisted on peer reviewed only. Looking at their literature cited sections now, I can see that policy has changed. CL Jonathan Greenberg wrote: > William Silvert's story inspired me to ask a modified question on this topic > -- some journals require that citations ONLY include peer-reviewed articles. > I have heard horror stories (not me, fortunately) about researchers who have > presented preliminary results at conferences, only to have these results > appear (uncited) in an article by a person who attended this conference, who > was simply faster getting the manuscript out the door. These ideas make me > (early in my career) nervous when I present the more exciting, newer science > I'm doing at conferences. Do journals that require only peer reviewed > literature to appear in the article bibliographies need to rethink this > approach? Personally, I think its ridiculous to restrict what an author > feels is citable material, and I think that new authors need to be honest > about where they heard ideas if they aren't their own -- conference > proceedings, even the talks themselves, need to be cited. > > --j > -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cara Lin Bridgman P.O. Box 013 Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 Longjing Sinjhuang Taichung 434 Taiwan http://web.thu.edu.tw/caralinb/www/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
