Consistency in Referencing

This paper argues for precision in citing. It proposes an approach to citation analysis that would encourage that precision, and contrasts this approach with one based on inferred motivations for citing. It argues that it is misguided to classify citation‐signallers by the nature of the motivations inferred to underlie their use, the inference process being both philosophically and methodologically less satisfactory than the approach this paper proposes; and that, moreover, it is unnecessary, since certain formal characteristics of citation‐signallers of themselves provide ample means of classification.