When I read very old, classic papers in biology, I am struck by how few sources they cite. Watson and Crick, 1953 cites 6 sources. Luria and Delbrück, 1943 cites 9.
This is in contrast to contemporary papers, which often have a whole page, in very small type, listing the sources.
What is going on? Am I correct in concluding that over the past century, the number of sources referenced by each paper has increased? What does this mean? Is biology (and perhaps other sciences) simply maturing and becoming more collaborative? Has the availability of computers and the internet made it easier to find more sources? Are standards higher nowadays about grounding your work in literature? Is it just that stuffing your bibliography with copy/pasted sources has become fashionable?
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