On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 6:43 AM Pavel Sanda <sa...@lyx.org> wrote: > > Hi, > > LyX has currently an issue that the word count statistics does not include > citations. I am unfortunately afraid that there might not be agreement whether > these are proper words or not, depending on the publisher/journal. > > In your experience with different publications, how many words constitute > these? > [1] : 0/1* > (Goldman et al., 1976) : 0/1/4* > > I tend to implement the starred version unless it causes controversy... > Alternatively we could count citation words separately, but I do not like > this solution. > > Pavel
In my experience, the word count limit is just a guide to the appropriate length of a paper. Ain't nobody got time to check whether you have 502 words in your abstract or 497. But generally, it will be apparent when you have 750 words and the limit is 500. So, as long as you are sticking to the spirit of the word limit, you don't have to worry about whether your references are counted as 4 words or 5. I've checked the LyX word counter against MS Word/LibreOffice before, and there are always slight differences in the counts, even for a text without references. It all comes down to different views on what a "word" is. Even when you're talking orthographic words (strings with spaces around them), people will have different opinions on certain tricky cases. I really don't think you are ever going to have to duke it out with your editor, though. Also, some journals explicitly exclude references from their word count limit. If they care enough to legislate this, they will usually be clear about it on their submission pages.
