I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to man's power of selection.... In cases of this kind, if the variation were of a beneficial nature, the original form would soon be supplanted by the modified form....
—Charles Darwin, 1859.
Consider the following four ways to cite the same scientific article:
We note that such essential information as author, journal, date, and title does not change, but the formats vary widely. Each format is in current use by a scientific journal. We need the genius of Darwin to tell us why so many variations in citation styles have survived.
It is generally considered unethical to manipulate a situation or person. Manipu
Screen from EndNote Plus. lating a bibliographic style, however, seems an exception, hence the existence of more than 10 bibliographic manager programs.