Citing Data
Citing data is important in order to:
- Give the data producer appropriate credit
- Allow easier access to the data for re-purposing or re-use
- Enable readers to verify your results
Citation Elements
- Author(s)
- Title
- Year of publication: The date when the dataset was published or released (rather than the collection or coverage date)
- Publisher: the data center/repository
- Any applicable identifier (including edition or version)
- Availability and access: URL or doi/doi link
Examples
- Dataset
OECD (2008), “Social Expenditures aggregates”, OECD Social Expenditure Statistics (database). doi: 10.1787/000530172303 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/000530172303 (Accessed on 2008-12-02). - Table from a publication
Smith, J. (2008), Figure 1.2. Broadband Penetration in OECD Countries, in OECD Communications Outlook 2008, OECD Publishing doi: 10.1787/000530172303 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/000530172303. - Updated Dataset
Cavalieri, D., C. Parkinson, P. Gloersen, and H. J. Zwally. 1996, updated 2006. Sea ice concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I passive microwave data, March 2002–Sept. 2003. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. url: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0051.html (Accessed on 2008-05-14).
For more detailed citations and examples, see International Polary Year Data and Information Service, How to Cite a Data Set.
