It is to prevent plagirism

In my opinion, in depth literature survey is essential for any research project. But, only relevant and up-to-date citation of references /support to the stated statements to the published literature should be included in research publications.

What is the purpose of citing irrelevant references in the text of the manuscript by simply copying and pasting all references cited in their previous publications?

There can be various possibilities e.g. the author thought those citations & references are relevant in his / her point of view.  Sometimes, the author is careless, insufficient time, play "lazy" or with "shot-gun approach" to dump all citations & references without detailed validation / sanity check.  Sometimes, the author want to copy & paste from previous publication with the intention to amend at later stage but somehow forgotten to do etc.  All these showing quality issue of the manuscript.

This issue should be hi-lighted by the knowledgeable / experienced blind / peer reviewers so that the author is asked to do the needed corrections before approval for publication.  However, sometimes the reviewers might also missed this "catch".

In any research paper, we are expected to acknowledge the work of previous researchers through citations. Citations include only those research papers that are used to strengthen one's own paper for potential publication. It is not appropriate to include those papers in references section unless the papers are cited in the main text. Citing references is a great source for future researchers.

Dear Rentala,

Citation could have multiple objectives: 

The first thing is the research ethics drive, we have to properly acknowledge someones work and contribution, otherwise it will be a very serious violation of research ethics.  

The second reason for proper citation is to direct future readers about the source (s) and origin of the idea we are making use of. So, citation is helping interested readers to access the original work.

Finally, proper citation, can show the life-cycle of the issue: who the first contributor is, the critic followed, and the gaps and advancement made in the area.  Generally, unless a contribution is not properly cited, sometimes we might not know who the first contributor, and refinements added overtime. 

We cite references for variety of reasons:

• To avoid plagiarism and to give credit to authors whose works we have used
• To Provide evidence of our research.
• To demonstrate to refrees/readers that our argument is thoroughly researched and that we have read/consulted the critical/important works relevant to the article.
•  To allow the readers/refrees to determine independently whether the referenced material supports our argument.
• To compare our results with others.

In the present publication, authors have cited the references just by copy and paste, without even going in to the detailed procedures for uranium determination.

Article Letter to the Editor: Comments related to the publication ti...

Citation means research toughness. I think.

Regards, Emad

The citation serves one or more essential functions; it enables the reader to examine the cited work to check the veracity of a statement that it is being used to support, or the correctness of the use of a concept or interpretation of a process. When citing in support of a statement being made in one's own article, it also acknowledges the contribution made by the cited work. Both the verification functionand the acknowledgement functionare important. One may also use citations to document how a political debate or historical process or a specific concept has developed and has been defined. We can call this the documentation function1.

As a general principle, authors should not make reference to research output without having read and evaluated that output directly.

There is a great temptation to cite a work or part of a work on the strength of a report of what it says without going to the original source. Thus, if a paper or book chapter that we have access to makes a statement which is relevant to our work and cites another article in support of it, it is tempting to repeat the assertion and the citation without reading the original source material. This is clearly unacceptable because of the risk of misrepresentation. Equally, having identified an abstract of an article using an electronic database, there is a temptation to cite the article without going to the full text. This is risky practice because one has not taken the opportunity to evaluate the research being cited by reference to the methods and analyses used.

Source:

West, R., & Stenius, K. (2008). The use and abuse of citations. Publishing addiction science. A guide for the perplexed, 98-109.

There is one publication in :  1. Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Naveen Kumar and P.N.Bangroo, J. Indian Chem. Soc., 2013, 90, 2147., citing irrelevant references copied and pasted from EARFAM-publication without citing it. .

Strength of research lies in citations 

The author has put in all efforts to find new dimensions to his own work

he discusses all others work which may be in line or new or contradicting

Results and discussion with similar works in other parts of the world also is a strength

Citing references in research publication is crucial as it adds authenticity to the background of presented research work, methodology adopted and provide corroborative evidence and credibility to the findings and discussions. Cited references also evidence for literature consulted throughout planning and conducting research. It is the way of giving credit to the work of others in the related field and/or related aspect. Explaining what has already been thought, done and reported on a topic with supporting reference help reader understand the context and relevance and significance of research.