LibGuides: Data Services: Citing Data

Citation Basics

Data requires citations for the same reasons journal articles and other types of publications require citations. It is to acknowledge the original author/producer, and to help other researchers find the resource. It allows for tracking in the reuse of data, and allows researchers to replicate research findings.

A dataset citation includes all of the same components as any other citation:

Author- The creator of the dataset.

Title- The name of the cited resource.

Publication Date- The day of when dataset was made available, the date all quality assurance procedures were completed, or the date the embargo period expired.

Publisher- The organization housing the data or performing quality assurance.

Edition- Level or stage of processing the data.

Version- The number of the current data iteration.

Access information- A URL or unique identifier for the data.

A Description of Data Citation Instructions in Style Guides

How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications
This guide will help you create links between your academic publications and the underlying datasets, so that anyone viewing the publication will be able to locate the dataset and vice versa.
Why and how should I cite data?
Information and examples on how to cite data

Examples of Citations

APA

Cool, H. E. M., & Bell, M. (2011). Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber [Data set]. doi:10.5284/1000389

Chicago

(Footnote) H. E. M. Cool and Mark Bell, Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber (accessed May 1, 2011), doi:10.5284/1000389.

(Bibliography) Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber (accessed May 1, 2011). doi:10.5284/1000389.

MLA

Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. “Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber.” Archaeology Data Service, 2001. Web. 1 May 2011. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1000389>.

Centers for Disease Control
National Center for Health Statistics. National Ambulatory Medical Survey, 1994. Public-use data file and documentation. ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/. 1996.

Purdue Online Writing Lab APA
Find descriptions and examples of common types of sources.

Citation Management Tools

Tutorial: Select & Use a Citation Manager - from A.T. Still Memorial Library
Citation managers - also called reference managers or bibliographic management software - are programs that store and format scholarly references and citations. They are useful for keeping track of important articles or other works, for formatting citations correctly using a wide variety of citation styles including APA and AMA, and sometimes for sharing research between a group of users. This guide shows characteristics and instructions for using the three supported by the Library - Zotero, Mendeley, & EndNote.
EndNote Basic
EndNote Basic is a free, condensed online version of the subscription-based EndNote Desktop program.
My Bibliography
My Bibliography is an application developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to help you organize citations to your publications and to assist eRA Commons users with managing publication or product compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.

Access Info & More... less...

An Insider's Guide to the New My Bibliography: https://youtu.be/DDHkAVQ5dDQ
Zotero
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

DOIs or Unique Identifier Tools

DOI lookup
Locate DOIs using citations, text information, or XML.
EZID
EZID is a service provided by California Digital Library for creating and managing persistent, unique identifiers.
WebCite
WebCite is an on-demand web archiving service that takes snapshots of Internet-accessible digital objects at the behest of users, storing the data on their own servers and assigning unique identifiers to those instances of the material.