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Open Data Sets and Visualization Resources: Data Citation

Locate and use open source numeric, statistical, geospatial, and qualitative data sets by topic. Explore data visualization methods, techniques, and resources to help discover patterns in the data that may not be clear from statistics alone.

Citing Data

Properly citing data assists in the research process by giving data creators proper credit for their work, aids replication, provides permanent and reliable information about the data source, helps track the impact of the data, and facilitates resource discovery and access.

Citing Data From Others

In many cases, a data provider will include recommended citation formats. Recommended citations can come either with the dataset or from elsewhere on the website.  Also note that the producers of a particular dataset may request that users of the data cite a publication in which the data are described, rather than citing the dataset. 

When a data provider does not recommend a citation format, we recommend these general citation guidelines:

  1. Author/Principal Investigator
  2. Year of Publication
  3. Title of the Data Source
  4. Edition/Version Number
  5. Format of the Data Source (e.g. [Computer File], [CD-ROM], [Online], etc.)
  6. Producer of the Data Source
  7. Distributor of the Data Source
  8. Identifier or permanent URL for the Data Source

Check out the library's Citation Guide for help with the various styles used on campus.

This guide on data citation from Columbia University offers strategies and resources for citing data.