If someone publishes a paper in a journal and in it he cited other publications as well. When I pick an information from this journal, whom do I cite in my reference? Is it the journal I have in my hand (1st person) or do I cite the person the first person cited (second person)? If I am to cite the second person, what if I do not have an access to the paper?
Good question and an important thing to consider. Including a citation to the original work is the most ethical thing to do. This is especially so for the knowledge found in the introduction of a paper, when topical background information is being given. If you think the authors give a unique viewpoint that is worth encouraging other to read, then you can cite the newer paper as well - but be judicious in making such references. If the citation is directly relevant to the new research, then cite both the new paper and the original paper. An example of this would be a newly refined crystal structure that has a higher resolution than a previously published one. The goal is to strike a balance between providing the most relevant information, convey your thinking process concerning the topic, highlighting what you consider to be seminal articles, and not waste writing space.
You should read all of the papers you cite! Authors who do not check the validity of source cited by others can inadvertently propagate misinformation. Verifying the information regarding citations is an ethically responsible thing to do. Plus, you may disagree with how someone else interprets the given data. Most institutions can order article for you, or if the authors are still conducting research then contact them directly and request a personal copy.
Finally, find authors whose research and writing you admire. Study how they make their citations. Decide if you agree with how and what they cite. Ultimately, you have to make the best decision that you can with regards to this. A good reviewer will also point out if you have made too many or too few citations, or if you did not cite the more important papers.
Below are some excerpts concerning article citation and ethical consideration thereof.
“An author should cite those publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work and that will guide the reader quickly to the earlier work that is essential for understanding the present investigation. Except in a review, citation of work that will not be referred to in the reported research should be minimized. An author is obligated to perform a literature search to find, and then cite, the original publications that describe closely related work. For critical materials used in the work, proper citation to sources should also be made when these were supplied by a nonauthor.” [1]
“Citation practices
Plagiarism (a high crime) is not the only ethical issue in citation practices. Indeed, there are a number of misdemeanors including the obligation to cite the first observation of a given phenomenon, rather than a later article substantiating the finding, or a review article. Citing the original article ensures that the person with priority for the discovery is provided proper credit. To cite a later source misallocates that credit.
Authors also have an obligation to ensure that they have read the article they cite (imagine that!) and to take responsibility for ensuring that it supports the point to which they are referring. Simply copying the citation from another article frequently leads to the perpetuation of errors in the literature. In addition, authors have an obligation to cite papers that do not support their hypothesis, as well as those that do.” [2]
[1] Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Released by the American Chemical Society. http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/ethics/index.html
[2] Zigmond MJ, Fischer BA, Beyond fabrication and plagiarism: the little murders of everyday science. Commentary on "Six Domains of Research Ethics". Sci Eng Ethics. 2002 Apr;8(2):229-34. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-002-0024-3#page-1
Having access to the original paper would be the best option. Even if there is no access, it can be cited in text as ...(the original author) cited in (secondary author), and both citations should be given in bibliography.
For identifying proper and accurate citation, use google scholar... some authors cite wrong. There are two ways to cited as in your conditions.
One explained above, ...(the original author) cited in (secondary author)...
Second, ... (secondary author) cited by (the original author)...
Good question and an important thing to consider. Including a citation to the original work is the most ethical thing to do. This is especially so for the knowledge found in the introduction of a paper, when topical background information is being given. If you think the authors give a unique viewpoint that is worth encouraging other to read, then you can cite the newer paper as well - but be judicious in making such references. If the citation is directly relevant to the new research, then cite both the new paper and the original paper. An example of this would be a newly refined crystal structure that has a higher resolution than a previously published one. The goal is to strike a balance between providing the most relevant information, convey your thinking process concerning the topic, highlighting what you consider to be seminal articles, and not waste writing space.
You should read all of the papers you cite! Authors who do not check the validity of source cited by others can inadvertently propagate misinformation. Verifying the information regarding citations is an ethically responsible thing to do. Plus, you may disagree with how someone else interprets the given data. Most institutions can order article for you, or if the authors are still conducting research then contact them directly and request a personal copy.
Finally, find authors whose research and writing you admire. Study how they make their citations. Decide if you agree with how and what they cite. Ultimately, you have to make the best decision that you can with regards to this. A good reviewer will also point out if you have made too many or too few citations, or if you did not cite the more important papers.
Below are some excerpts concerning article citation and ethical consideration thereof.
“An author should cite those publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work and that will guide the reader quickly to the earlier work that is essential for understanding the present investigation. Except in a review, citation of work that will not be referred to in the reported research should be minimized. An author is obligated to perform a literature search to find, and then cite, the original publications that describe closely related work. For critical materials used in the work, proper citation to sources should also be made when these were supplied by a nonauthor.” [1]
“Citation practices
Plagiarism (a high crime) is not the only ethical issue in citation practices. Indeed, there are a number of misdemeanors including the obligation to cite the first observation of a given phenomenon, rather than a later article substantiating the finding, or a review article. Citing the original article ensures that the person with priority for the discovery is provided proper credit. To cite a later source misallocates that credit.
Authors also have an obligation to ensure that they have read the article they cite (imagine that!) and to take responsibility for ensuring that it supports the point to which they are referring. Simply copying the citation from another article frequently leads to the perpetuation of errors in the literature. In addition, authors have an obligation to cite papers that do not support their hypothesis, as well as those that do.” [2]
[1] Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Released by the American Chemical Society. http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/ethics/index.html
[2] Zigmond MJ, Fischer BA, Beyond fabrication and plagiarism: the little murders of everyday science. Commentary on "Six Domains of Research Ethics". Sci Eng Ethics. 2002 Apr;8(2):229-34. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-002-0024-3#page-1
I agree with Karl and he provides a very detailed and exhaustive answer.
I don't think I have so much to add on that.
It is really important you know the papers you are citing and also you know all the relevant literature in your field. That's of course a very very hard task and you should try to use all the tools to be sure to go backward in the literature in the proper way. Your institution will provide you with the access to a lot of journals, I guess. Also if you don't have access to a full-text paper and you think you need it, you can try to contact the corresponding author of the paper and ask for the re-print. He will be generally very glad to help you. One thing among the other that I think it is pretty useful to find the references is the Citation Map that the Web of Knowledge allow you to calculate starting from a specific paper and looking for the citations backward and forward.
I believe Karl and Elena have elaborated your question very well. To summarize, you have to take care about the citation as following:
1. Try to get the article you are citing in your write-up. You may get a free copy or at least an abstract online. Asking the corresponding author helps often.
2. When you pick something from the article, narrate it in your own words, avoiding word-to-word copy and then give reference of the original article in your text. This is usually done in Introduction and Discussion parts of your article and some times in Methodology when you refer to a special technique or method/procedure.
3. In the bibliography, give complete citation of the article you quoted in the text.
4. There are many ways/styles the citation is written. In the university theses usually the Harvard style is followed. (It is Reader friendly). And in a Journal article, mostly the Vancouver style is followed (It is Writer friendly). The later is generally followed now.
You can go to Google Scholar, search for your required article and see how it can be cited according to your individual needs. If you are using EndNote for citation, it is very easy to insert citations and transform them into any style you need by just a click.
5. Citing a Journal article, a book, a chapter in a book, a thesis, and unpublished work are different from each other in style and punctuation. If you read an article and references cited by the authors, you can learn these differences very easily.
Remember: The contents of all published articles, even in Open Access Journals, are copyrighted and you must list them in the bibliography with proper citation!
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