Corresponding author: Jari Sarja (
Academic editor:
In this technical report-type paper, we introduce a new provocative idea about a
In the cases in which the data sources have been added to the reference list of academic publications, the non-academic sources added may cause confusion for the reader. It has also happened that some articles have received negative feedback because of abundant non-academic sources, although the intended meaning was to represent multiple sources of research data used in the study. This misinterpretation is naturally a consequence of careless reading, but in the case of reviewing or evaluation, the damage is already done from the author’s point of view.
This could be avoided by compartmentalizing the reference list. A compartmentalized reference list means dividing the reference list according to commonly accepted themes. We propose that the main themes could be
Secondly, in many cases a researcher may try to find assistance for methodological solutions for his/her own study. This can be done by trying to find similar research approaches, or trying to find essential methodological references from other studies. Therefore, we propose
For some reason, this simple principle has not been used, at least according our knowledge, in the academic literature. Besides its usefulness and advantages, it is notable that even according to principles of bibliography, there should not be any conflicts in using an explanatory compartmentalized reference list in academic papers. Bibliography is a broad concept with different meanings. In this paper, we have narrowed the concept of “bibliography” to concern only the organized listing of literature (
Tertiary sources under each theme are naturally arranged in alphabetical order. An example of the use of the compartmentalized reference list is shown below. The introduced themes are bolded and italicized in the model.
Abimbola, T., & Vallaster, C. (2007). Brand, organizational identity and reputation in SMEs: an overview. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 10 (4), 341–348.
Abrahamsson, P., Warsta, J., Siponen, M., & Ronkainen, J. (2003). New directions on agile methods: A comparative analysis, Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering, May 3–5, Portland, 244–254.
Al-Sulaiti, L., & Knowles, G. (2002). A multimedia Arabic course, Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Processing of Arabic, 94–105.
Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A.D., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., Lee, G., Patterson, D., Rabkin, A., Stoica, I., & Zaharia, M. (2010). A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM, 53 (4), 50–58.
Avison, D.E., & Fitzgerald, G. (1991). Information Systems Development. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Beck, K. (1999). Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Bhide, A. (1992). Bootstrap finance: the art of start-ups. Harvard Business Review, 70 (6), 109–117.
Blackstone, E.H. (2007). Planning the research.
Bächle, M., & Kirchberg, P. (2007). Ruby on Rails.
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Chandler, D. (2001). Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge.
Eco, U. (1976). A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Huitfeldt, C., & Sperberg-McQueen, C.M. (2008). What is transcription? Literary and Linguistic Computing, 23 (3), 295–310.
Järvinen, P. (2004). On Research Methods. Tampere: Opinpajan kirja.
Kitchenham, B. (2004). Procedures for performing systematic reviews. Keele University Technical Report. Keele: Keele University.
Puusa, A. (2008). Käsiteanalyysi tutkimusmenetelmänä, Premissi, 4, 36–43. (In Finnish)
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37signals. (2011). The 37signals home page. Retrieved from
Appleton, B. (2005). Brad Appleton’s ACME blog. Retrieved from
Burrows, P. (2004). The seed of Apple’s innovation. Retrieved from
Campfire. (2011). The Campfire home page. Retrieved from
Caplan, J. (2007). Small is essential. Retrieved from
Fried, J., & Heinemeier Hansson, D. (2006). Getting Real. [book]. Retrieved from
Fried, J., & Heinemeier Hansson, D. (2010). Rework. London: Vermillion.
Fried, J. (2009a). Jason Fried of 37signals at BIG Omaha 2009. A presentation at the BIG Omaha event. [video clip]. Retrieved from
Fried, J. (2009b). Jason Fried of 37signals at FOWA Miami 2009. A presentation at the FOWA Miami event. [video clip]. Retrieved from
Fried, J. (2008a). Jason Fried of 37signals at Business Innovation Factory 4. A presentation at the Business Innovation Factory event. [video clip]. Retrieved from
Fried, J. (2008b).
Getting Real. (2011). Getting Real. Introduction page. Retrieved from http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ (Accessed 26.1.2011).
Heinemeier Hansson, D. (2009).
Heinemeier Hansson, D. (2008a). David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals interview with O’Reilly. [video clip]. Retrieved from
Heinemeier Hansson, D. (2008b).
O’Reilly, T. (2005a). Web 2.0: Compact Definition?. O'Reilly radar blog. Retrieved from
O’Reilly, T. (2005b). What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. Retrieved from
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The author would like to acknowledge The Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) for grant number 10-5088. The grant made it possible to write this short paper simultaneously with the research of innovation discipline.