Citing and referencing empirical material

Nordicom's editorial policies include standards for research ethics, transparency, and consent, as well as the use of third-party material. Please read the editorial policies in full before submission to ensure the requirements are met. 

• Read Nordicom's editorial policies.

Citing publicly available empirical research material

Publicly available empirical research material includes, for example, articles quoted for a discourse analysis or social media posts from public accounts.

The expectations of publicity versus privacy are particularly ambiguous on social media. In these cases, it is the author’s responsibility to determine the ethical obligations of informing and obtaining consent of their research subjects. This includes fair consideration of the reasonable expectations of the individuals under study; it is not adequate to refer to general terms and conditions of platforms that the individuals agree to when signing up for a service. A well-reasoned discussion of this should be included in the methodology section.

If reasonable expectation of publicity is determined, then full reference information should be supplied for any quoted or illustrated material (including, but not limited to, images, screenshots, text, etc.). These references must contain the full information that any other reference contains, and they should adhere to APA guidelines.

• View reference entry examples on APA’s website

If your material is part of a large quantitative dataset, or if extensive sources are quoted (e.g., tweets or comments on social media posts), then other measures may be taken; contact the manuscript editor at the soonest possibility if this is the case.

If anonymity is a concern, then a detailed description of the due consideration should be written, including the reasoning for anonymisation, which ethical guidelines have been followed, how the material has been stored and accessed for quoted material, and so on. If questions arise, Nordicom’s editors may request the raw data or empirical material during the review process.

Citing research participants

Quotations from research participants or other original research material that are not publicly retrievable do not need to be included in the reference list. State in the text who gave the quotation (using descriptors rather than names if anonymity is required), and use parentheses to include any additional relevant information. 

• Read APA guidelines for citing personal communications
• Read APA guidelines for quoting research participants

A well-reasoned argument for why the respondents were chosen should be included in the methodology section. This should include, for example, selection and exclusion criteria, how respondents were contacted, and an overall assessment of the sample’s quality, strengths, and shortcomings.

You may choose to include a table presenting your sources, for example, interview respondents (see Table 1), with relevant data to help readers get an overview of your sample. 
 

Table 1 Characteristics of interview respondents

If it is determined that anonymity is necessary, use the most relevant information in terms of why they are included in the study to distinguish the respondents from each other. Include a detailed description of the due consideration for why anonymity is required, which ethical guidelines have been followed, how the material has been stored and accessed for quoted material, and so on. If questions arise, Nordicom’s editors may request the raw data or empirical material during the review process.

Please consult the manuscript editor at the earliest possible opportunity to enquire about these issues.

Contact

Manuscript editor: kristin.clay@nordicom.gu.se  

Page last updated September 2023