meaning-of-recent

Most readers will agree that a study published within the last 12 months can be considered “recent.” However, the majority of authors who deal with DMC consider manuscripts published 5–10 years earlier as “recent.” We recommend allowing readers to judge the meaning of “recent” by including publication dates whenever possible, such as in the text or in the bibliography. Publication of your paper may sometimes take longer than you would like (whether online or hard copy), and all of the references will therefore become less “recent.”