Out of Cite, Out of Mind : The Current State of Practice, Policy, and Technology for the Citation of Data – Data Science Journal, Volume 12, 13 September 2013

Executive Summary

Traditionally, scientific findings have been shared by means of publication and citation, in which papers are published, read, and critiqued, with the links be tween papers established through a formal process of bibliographic referencing and citation. So well established is this practice that most journal Instructions to Authors provide the details of what information should be provided and how the references should be structured. A data citation is a reference to data for the purpose of credit attribution and facilitation of access to the data. As data sets have become larger and more complex, however, it is often no longer possible to publish them as part of a paper ; the ability of scientific assertions in the paper to withstand scrutiny demands that the link between the data and the publication be maintained.

The relatively new practice of making bibliographic references to data sets with formal citations begins to address long-standing problems limiting our collective ability to locate data and to reuse them effectively in advancing science. References made and citations received support a research infrastructure to provide the necessary recognition and reward of data work, in addition toproviding attribution detail, facilitating future access, and fostering cross-collaboration and investigation. They are the links between the data and the published research resultneeded to maintain the integrity of the scientific method (…) «