On 3/21/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
Scientific papers are primary sources.
Scientific papers are secondary sources. The experimental or observational data that the papers draw on are the primary sources.
The data is usually published in the paper, so the paper is the primary source.
If you want to split hairs like that, then yes, insofar as the paper merely reproduces the data, then it's a primary source. The analysis of the data and the conclusions drawn from the data in the paper are secondary material.