Research Support

1. Include relevant citations. "Citations identify where ideas have come from, and consulting the cited works allows readers of your text to study them more closely, as well as to evaluate whether your use of them is appropriate."
2. Read the publications you cite. "The only way to identify whether its content is relevant as support for your claim is to read it in full."
3. Cite in accordance with content. "This may mean that you need to cite a single source multiple times throughout your own argument, including explanations or indications why."
4. Cite transparently, not neutrally. "Ask yourself why you are citing prior work and which value you are attributing to it, and whether the answers to these questions are accessible to your readers."
5. Cite yourself when required. "...self-citation serves an important function by showing incremental iterative advancement of your work...The amount of acceptable self-citation is very likely to differ between fields..."
6. Prioritise the citations you include. "Many journals have restrictions on the number of references authors are allowed to include." Read the article linked below for tips on prioritising citations.
7. Evaluate citations as the choices that they are. "The choice to include or exclude a reference can only be evaluated in the context of that narrative and the role they play in it." 
8. Evaluate citations in their rhetorical context. "Citations are a part of the social fabric of science in the sense that through citing specific sources, authors show their allegiance to schools of thought, communities, or, in the context of scientific controversies, which paradigm they consider themselves part of."
9. Evaluate citations as framed communication. "All messages and texts contain and require a frame—a structure of definitions and assumptions that help organise coherence, connections, and, ultimately, meaning—or in other words, a perspective on reality."
10. Accept that citation cultures differ across boundaries. "The average number of citations per paper differs between disciplines, and the way that citations are represented in the text and the value of being cited also differ radically."

Source: Penders B (2018) Ten simple rules for responsible referencing. PLoS Comput Biol 14(4): e1006036. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006036