Tracking and Managing Citations: Data Centers

and Best Practices

Tracking and Managing Citations: Data Centers

and Best PracticesW. Christopher Lenhardt

CIESIN – Columbia University25 October 2006 – CODATA 2006

W. Christopher LenhardtCIESIN – Columbia University

25 October 2006 – CODATA 2006

CODATA 2006 - BeijingCODATA 2006 - Beijing

OutlineOutline

• Summarize the challenges• Why do data citations matter• Summarize CIESIN experience• Related efforts• Summary of potential best practices• Additional thoughts

• Summarize the challenges• Why do data citations matter• Summarize CIESIN experience• Related efforts• Summary of potential best practices• Additional thoughts

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ChallengesChallenges

• Citing digital data• Bits are still ephemeral• Standardization still in progress

• Sociology of science• How to get credit for publishing data• Rapidly changing technology• Issue of How (theory) versus Doing (practice)

• Citing digital data• Bits are still ephemeral• Standardization still in progress

• Sociology of science• How to get credit for publishing data• Rapidly changing technology• Issue of How (theory) versus Doing (practice)

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Related IssuesRelated Issues

• Data quality• Facilitate usage• Attribution• Provenance/authenticity

• Data quality• Facilitate usage• Attribution• Provenance/authenticity

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Address the problem from a different angleAddress the problem from a different angle

• Potential contribution of data centers• Contribute to standards development• Develop and promote best practices

• Potential contribution of data centers• Contribute to standards development• Develop and promote best practices

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What do you need?What do you need?

• Some policies• Some procedures/operational practices• Some content

• Some policies• Some procedures/operational practices• Some content

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Potentially Relevant PoliciesPotentially Relevant Policies

• Data quality policy (and procedure)• Information quality policy (and procedure)• Responsible use

• Data quality policy (and procedure)• Information quality policy (and procedure)• Responsible use

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Quality Review and DocumentationQuality Review and Documentation

• What kinds of data and information

• Quality review and documentation

• Making quality information available to end-users

• What kinds of data and information

• Quality review and documentation

• Making quality information available to end-users

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Responsible UseResponsible Use

• Data providers have certain legal and ethical responsibilities related to data stewardship and dissemination

• Opportunity to remind users about issues such as attribution and confidentiality

• Can be a link• Could pop up prior to a

download• http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/

org/policies/respuse.html

• Data providers have certain legal and ethical responsibilities related to data stewardship and dissemination

• Opportunity to remind users about issues such as attribution and confidentiality

• Can be a link• Could pop up prior to a

download• http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/

org/policies/respuse.html

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Operational PracticesOperational Practices

• Quality review and documentation• Recommended citations• Technical publications about data• Citation style guides

• Quality review and documentation• Recommended citations• Technical publications about data• Citation style guides

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Provide recommended citationsProvide recommended citations

• Essential reminder/aid to facilitate citation

• Can be non-trivial depending on things like collections versus subsets

• Helpful to users to add a “download to a citation manager link”

• Essential reminder/aid to facilitate citation

• Can be non-trivial depending on things like collections versus subsets

• Helpful to users to add a “download to a citation manager link”

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Collect Citation InformationCollect Citation Information

• Gives an indication of usage and quality

• Provides a reminder to users to cite data in their research and publications

• Ideally do this for all your data, but may be valuable for flagship data products

• Potential for automation?• Pull and push

• Gives an indication of usage and quality

• Provides a reminder to users to cite data in their research and publications

• Ideally do this for all your data, but may be valuable for flagship data products

• Potential for automation?• Pull and push

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Generate or Reference [Peer-reviewed] Publications or Technical Notes About the Data

Generate or Reference [Peer-reviewed] Publications or Technical Notes About the Data

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Provide Access to or Develop a Citation ‘Style Guide’Provide Access to or Develop a Citation ‘Style Guide’

• http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/citations• http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/citations

Related ActivitiesRelated

Activities

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Work at Harvard/MITWork at Harvard/MIT

• http://gking.harvard.edu/files/cite.pdf

• http://gking.harvard.edu/files/cite.pdf

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IASSISTIASSIST

• Review of styles• Subgroup working on

the issue• Blog

• Review of styles• Subgroup working on

the issue• Blog

•http://iassistblog.org/?cat=17•http://iassistblog.org/?cat=17

•http://www.iassistdata.org/•http://www.iassistdata.org/

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Stats CanadaStats Canada

• Gaeton Drolet – Univ of Quebec Laval• Gaeton Drolet – Univ of Quebec Laval

•http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/12-591-XIE/12-591-XIE2006001.htm•http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/12-591-XIE/12-591-XIE2006001.htm

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Summary of Potential Best PracticesSummary of Potential Best Practices

• Provide a recommended citation• Provide access to guides on citation• Encourage responsible use• Publish about data in peer reviewed literature• Collect citations to the data from other researchers and users

• Provide a recommended citation• Provide access to guides on citation• Encourage responsible use• Publish about data in peer reviewed literature• Collect citations to the data from other researchers and users

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Additional ChallengesAdditional Challenges

• Downloads of whole data sets versus subsets of data• Composite data sets

• Collections• Aggregations

• Resources may be limited; Can you do this for all of your holdings?

• It may not make sense to develop your own style guide, may be more efficacious to utilize a pre-existing guide

• Location and naming – for citations to be useful, the location must be stable• URNs/DOIs etc.

• Downloads of whole data sets versus subsets of data• Composite data sets

• Collections• Aggregations

• Resources may be limited; Can you do this for all of your holdings?

• It may not make sense to develop your own style guide, may be more efficacious to utilize a pre-existing guide

• Location and naming – for citations to be useful, the location must be stable• URNs/DOIs etc.

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To Address the Larger Challenge Need to InvolveTo Address the Larger Challenge Need to Involve

• Funders• Publishers• Professional associations• Creators of data• Other data centers

• Funders• Publishers• Professional associations• Creators of data• Other data centers

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Should we treat data more like a traditional publication?Should we treat data more like a traditional publication?

• Research data is messy• Persistence: Are data sets

analogous to books?• Do we need unique identifiers

and/or catalog numbers for data sets?• ISBN v. catalog number

• Research data is messy• Persistence: Are data sets

analogous to books?• Do we need unique identifiers

and/or catalog numbers for data sets?• ISBN v. catalog number

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Thanks…Thanks…