What fields do you see this in? I read a lot of social science-y academic articles for research for a nonfiction book I’m writing, and I would be very frustrated if a date wasn’t included at the front of the article.
Though I’m not sure if I’ve been lulled into a fall sense of security by finding the date on the cover sheet of the PDF (prepended by the article’s publisher/distributer, I imagine).
In no way am I disagreeing with you, more sharing the fact that I’d be surprised and frustrated to come across this omission. Author and publishing date are arguably more important than the title, in my opinion - which now that I think about it is probably why these are the metadata we use to index citations.
Though I’m not sure if I’ve been lulled into a fall sense of security by finding the date on the cover sheet of the PDF (prepended by the article’s publisher/distributer, I imagine).
In no way am I disagreeing with you, more sharing the fact that I’d be surprised and frustrated to come across this omission. Author and publishing date are arguably more important than the title, in my opinion - which now that I think about it is probably why these are the metadata we use to index citations.