In a published research paper, the author has cited a thesis/paper, which is not available online. The question is, when I'm writing my paper and I need to cite the corresponding unavailable paper/thesis, what should I do? Should I cite the original material even though I haven't read it? Or the paper that cited the unavailable material, say in its literature review section?
Asked
Active
Viewed 681 times
5
-
4Have you tried emailing the author or the author's PI? I've had to do that before. I had a funny feeling about citing something unseen. – la femme cosmique Aug 30 '16 at 16:50
-
1@lafemmecosmique unfortunately, the author is not alive – user2411110 Aug 30 '16 at 17:03
-
13In the body of your question, you say it's "not available online", which is very different from "not available". Have you talked with a librarian about ways you could try to get it offline? – Anonymous Mathematician Aug 30 '16 at 17:05
-
3Indeed, the librarian of Whatever University is the way forward here. Especially for a PhD thesis. Otherwise search for a national repo of theses in that country, if it exists. – la femme cosmique Aug 30 '16 at 17:11
-
Related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7797/what-do-you-do-when-you-find-yourselves-with-an-unreadable-inaccessible-paper – StrongBad Aug 30 '16 at 17:22
-
Also related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/36444/20058 – Massimo Ortolano Aug 30 '16 at 17:27
-
3For what it's worth, a 1919 paper by Besicovitch --- Sur deux questions d'intégrabilité des fonctions --- has been cited numerous times (even by Terence Tao), but I suspect no one alive has seen a copy of this paper. – Dave L Renfro Aug 30 '16 at 19:13
-
@DaveLRenfro Interesting. Any idea why that particular paper would be elusive? I recently had occasion to cite a paper from 1911 (written in German), and it turned out that not only was my coauthor able to get a copy, but that the entire paper had been made freely available online. – zibadawa timmy Aug 31 '16 at 01:22
-
4Possible duplicate of Is it unethical to cite a paper or book that you have never looked at? – jakebeal Aug 31 '16 at 03:48
-
2If it was an accepted thesis, the university that accepted it probably has a printed or microfiche copy in its library, and should be able to provide a reprint. – Patricia Shanahan Aug 31 '16 at 07:57
-
2@zibadawa timmy: The journal it appeared in, Journal de la Société de Physique et de Mathematique de l'Université de Perm [= Zurnal Fizikomatematičeskago Obščestva pri Pemskom Gosudarstvennom Universiteté], had only two volumes (1st in 1918, 2nd in 1919), and according to several sources (Taylor's 1975 biog. of Besic., Besic.'s 1928 Math. Zeit. and 1963 Math. Monthly papers on the Kakeya problem), copies of this journal did not reach outside of Russia due to the Russian Revolution at this time. I do not know whether any copies exist now -- all of the papers I've seen that cite it are silent. – Dave L Renfro Aug 31 '16 at 15:02
-
@DaveLRenfro Might be worth a question of its own! – usr1234567 Feb 04 '20 at 21:22
-
@DaveLRenfro How would you conclude that? Was the sole copy lost? – Aaron Brick Feb 05 '20 at 17:26
-
@Aaron Brick: From Besicovitch's 1928 paper On Kakeya's problem and a similar one: "Two volumes of this Journal were issued but they did not reach abroad because of the isolation of Russia at that time. Since then the publication of the Journal has stopped and there is no hope for the appearance of the Journal abroad." I suppose the first step in trying to locate a copy, if anyone is interested in whether a copy exists, would be to contact a librarian at Perm State University. – Dave L Renfro Feb 05 '20 at 18:26
-
1@DaveLRenfro indeed the library at Perm State University has a copy (in fact it appears to have three copies), and in October 2021 they held an exhibition featuring, among others, this particular magazine; the Facebook description strongly implies that the articles were then available for reading. So while it's not clear whether anyone had seen that particular article in 2016, many people would have seen it in 2021. I do wonder if it had been digitized, though... – January First-of-May Oct 24 '23 at 12:20
1 Answers
1
Assuming X is citing the reference Y whose content is unavailable, it is fine to cite Y just as done in X. It is better to mention it as a secondary source by stating that the concept mentioned in Y is as claimed in X. @jakebeal's answer to this post is most apt solution for this problem.
Some sources may inaccessible or totally unavailable (as in your situation) but they are cited nonetheless in the conjecture that the content they are assumed to provide are true. For instance, if an important method was proposed long ago and you wish develop on it, you ought to cite the original author of the paper (in addition to the standard books you refer), even if you couldn't access the paper yourself.
