Why is the "citation/reference page" counted towards the maximum limit of pages in many journals and conferences?
Traditionally, one goal with length limits is to reduce costs related to printing, typesetting, and distribution. If that factor is at play, it makes perfect sense to include references and author lists in the length limit. It has some unfortunate consequences (undercitation, in particular), but the journals/conferences have to decide what they value more.


the list of references are growing. One cannot imagine to be interdisciplinary and be stingy on the number of citations.


Unfortunately, I can easily imagine that. Some &quot;glossy&quot; journals even have rather low limits/guidelines for the number of citations allowed.