Why cite your data in a paper or other research output?
More and more, datasets are being recognised as a useful, and indeed fundamental output from research. There is a move by institutions, organisations, and funding bodies pushing for datasets to be treated as scholarly outputs in their own right, and for clearer reporting of what, and how, these datasets can be accessed. Recently, the data (or 'evidence') that underpins the arguments set forth in research outputs have started to appear as a citation within the published literature so that those reading the paper or other output, can access the original data or evidence for themselves.
The DataCite Citation Standard
The DataCite consortium provides a recommended format for citing data. Queen Mary has adopted the DataCite Citation Standard for datasets where the publisher of a paper or other scholarly work does not specify its own standard. Queen Mary researchers should follow the citation examples below1 when citing their own dataset as underlying data for a publication.
Creator (Publication Year): Title. Publisher. Identifier
If you wish to include information on Version and ResourceType use the recommended format below:
Creator (Publication Year): Title. Version. Publisher. ResourceType. Identifier
For citation purposes, the Identifier may optionally appear both in its original format and in a linkable http format (as it is practiced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)). Datacite also recommends that resources with no standard publication year should submit the preferred date from a citation perspective instead.
Examples:
· Irino, T; Tada, R (2009): Chemical and mineral compositions of sediments from ODP Site 127‐ 797. Geological Institute, University of Tokyo. doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.726855. http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.726855
· Geofon operator (2009): GEFON event gfz2009kciu (NW Balkan Region). GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ). doi:10.1594/GFG.GEOFON.gfz2009kciu. http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/GFZ.GEOFON.gfz2009kciu
· Denhard, Michael (2009): dphase_mpeps: MicroPEPS LAF‐Ensemble run by DWD for the MAP D‐PHASE project. World Data Center for Climate. doi: 10.1594/WDCC/dphase mpeps. http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/dphase_mpeps
For more information browse our Research Data Management section or contact Open Research Services.
1Excerpts from: DataCite (2014). DataCite Metadata Schema for the Publication and Citation of Research Data, v3.1; p7. http://dx.doi.org/10.5438/0010. Accessed 18th February 2015.