Citing Collections

Overview| Features | Examples

Overview

Good practice for citing collections is to cite them in the body of the manuscript and include them in the reference list. Include a stable identifier in the reference, either the digital object identifier (DOI) or handle.

It is recommended to archive research data in a long-term accessible repository aligned with the FAIR principles to support the reproducibility and validation of research results. “Supplemental Data” available from the journal article on a publisher’s website is a practice that is being phased out as it doesn’t align with FAIR principles.

Why is citing digital assets a good practice:

  • Supports reproducibility and validation of research results
  • Allows reuse of the digital asset
  • Gives credit to the producers
  • Associated with increased citations
  • Improved provenance for digital assets
  • Helps to track the reuse of digital assets.

Features in the Data Access Portal that support citing include:

  • Every collection landing page includes a formatted citation
  • Data and software collection types that are publicly accessible and include files get a persistent identifier called a digital object identifier (DOI)
  • Data and software collection types that are publicly accessible and do not include files get a persistent identifier called a handle
  • Service collection types get a persistent identifier called a handle.

Easily create a citation using the ‘Cite as’ feature available from the collection landing page. The image below illustrates the ‘Cite as’ feature.

Screenshot of the text box titled "Cite as", auto filled with citation details, which has a "copy" button next to it

You may need to modify the citation format to align with the rules of a publisher.

The use of a DOI or handle in a citation will help facilitate citation analysis for tracking the reuse of digital assets.

The ‘Cite as’ feature on a collection landing page aligns with the following data citation and software citation guidelines:

  • Data Citation Synthesis Group: Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles. Martone M. (ed.) San Diego CA: FORCE11; 2014 DOI: 10.25490/a97f-egyk 
  • Smith AM, Katz DS, Niemeyer KE, FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group. (2016) Software Citation Principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e86. DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.86

Examples

To cite a collection the following three elements are required:

Cited in the body of the publication

Included in the reference list

Includes a globally resolvable unique identifier (DOI or handle) in the reference.

Data Collection

    Example from Davies, P., Crosbie, R. 2018. Mapping the spatial distribution of chloride deposition across Australia, Journal of Hydrology, 561, June, pp. 76-88, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.03.051.

    Cited in the body of the publication:

    “The best estimate of the chloride deposition across Australia is presented in Fig. 7 along with the 5th and 95th percentiles. These datasets are available for download via the CSIRO Data Access Portal (Davies and Crosbie, 2014).”

    Included in the reference list and contains the globally resolvable unique identifier (DOI):

    “Davies, P., Crosbie, R., 2014. Australian chloride deposition rate. v1. CSIRO. Data Collection. http://doi.org/10.4225/08/545BEE54CD4FC.”

    Software Collection

    Example from Petingco, M.C., Casada, M.E., Maghirang, R.G., et al. 2020. Influence of Particle Shape and Contact Parameters on DEM-Simulated Bulk Density of Wheat, Transactions of the ASABE. 63, 6, pp. 1657-1672, https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.13718

    Cited in the body of the publication:

    Journal text: "Kernel dimensions were deteremined using a flatbed scanner (Epson Perfection V370, Seiko Espon America, Los Alamitos, Cal.) and GrainScan image processing software (Whan et al., 2014)

     

    Included in the reference list and contains the globally resolvable unique identifier (DOI):

    Journal text: "Whan, A., Bolger, M., & Bischof, L. (2014) GrainScan - Software for analysis of grain images (v2). Canberra, Australia: CSIRO. https:.//doi.org/10.4225/08/536302C43FC28

     

    Service Collection

    Example from Song, Z., Bao, Y., Zhang, D. et al. 2020. Centuries of monthly and 3-hourly global ocean wave data for past, present, and future climate research. Sci Data 7, 226, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0566-8

    Cited in the body of the publication:

    “…from 1979 to 200910, GFDL Wave Hindcast from 1981 to 200911, Ifremer Wave Hindcast from 1990 to present12, CAWCR Wave Hindcast from 1979 to present13, JAR-55-Wave from 1958–201214, and other similar datasets, have been carried out worldwide.”

     Included in the reference list and contains the globally resolvable unique identifier (permalink):

    13. Durrant, T., Hemer, M., Smith, G., Trenham, C. & Greenslade, D. CAWCR Wave Hindcast-Aggregated Collection. CSIRO Service, http://hdl.handle.net/102.100.100/137152?index=1 (2019).