Research Guides: CMU Library Data Collection and Data Services: How to Cite Data

About Data Citation

What is data citation?

Research data citation is the practice of referencing the datasets used in research, similar to how scholarly articles and books are cited. It involves providing key information about the data, such as its title, source, responsible parties, and a persistent identifier (like a DOI), to allow others to locate, verify, and reuse the data.

Major components of a data citation

Citing data is very similar to citing publications:

creator(s) or contributor(s)
date of publication
title of dataset
publisher
identifier (e.g. DOI or URL of source)
version, when appropriate
date accessed, when appropriate

How to cite data?

Use databases to generate citations as they are available, for example:
- ICPSR https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/102080/version/V1/view
- Statista click "Citation formats"
If generating citation is not available, you have to follow examples to write citations.

Examples of data citation styles

Style	Example	Source
APA (7th edition)	Data set D'Souza, A., & Wiseheart, M. (2018). Cognitive effects of music and dance training in children (ICPSR 37080; Version V1) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37080.v1 Unpublished raw data Baer, R. A. (2015). [Unpublished raw data on the correlations between the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills]. University of Kentucky.	APA Manual (p.337-338) Data Set References
Chicago (17th)	GenBank (for RP11-322N14 BAC [accession number AC087526.3]; accessed April 6, 2016). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/19683167.	Chicago Manual (14.257)
USGS	Groten, J.T., Livdahl, C.T., and DeLong, S.B., 2022, Suspended sediment and bedload data, simple linear regression models, loads, elevation data, and FaSTMECH models for Rice Creek, Minnesota, 2010-2019: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/ P9SJIY32.	USGS Data Citation
Dataverse	Gary King; Langche Zeng, 2006, “Replication data for: When Can History be Our Guide? The Pitfalls of Counterfactual Inference”, Harvard Dataverse, V2, http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/DXRXCFAWPK UNF:3:DaYlT6QSX9r0D50ye+tXpA==	Dataverse Data citation standard
Figshare	How to Share, Cite or Embed your items	Figshare
ICPSR	Barnes, Samuel H. Italian Mass Election Survey, 1968. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1992-02-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07953.v1	ICPSR Citing Data
Roper Center	Find citations for survey questions under the topline results by clicking “Cite” button in Roper iPoll.	Where to Find Citations

More sources

Cousijn, H., Feeney, P., Lowenberg, D., Presani, E., & Simons, N. (2019). Bringing Citations and Usage Metrics Together to Make Data Count. Data Science Journal, 18(1), 9. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-009
Data Sets Are Foundational to Research. Why Don’t We Cite Them?
Displaying Usage and Citations in your Repository
Metrics Toolkit: Citations, Data
Spring Nature The basics of data citation
Taylor & Francis Citing data
What DOI is and how DOI supports data citation and metrics?