On using references as evidence.

BACKGROUND One has to start to consider references as a kind of evidence similar to measured data and observations. Moreover, proper referencing adds to the credibility of a paper and gives appropriate credits to work of others. Experience of reviewers and editors indicate that there is room for improvement in the way that our scientific evidence base is referred to. OBJECTIVE To provide guidelines for referencing in medical informatics publications. METHOD The authors have collected examples of poor as well as good referencing as encountered in manuscripts submitted for review as well as in published literature. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION A set of 12 rules for proper referencing was derived. The rationale for each rule is provided and examples of rule violations and proper use of the rule are presented.