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Research Data Management (RDM): Citing Data

Welcome

Welcome to the Unisa Research Data Management LibGuide. This guide is designed to help you manage your research data effectively throughout the research lifecycle. Whether you are a student, an academic across all colleges, or a researcher, you will find valuable information, resources, and tools to help you with data planning, collection, storage, sharing, and preservation.

What  you will find here:

  • Guidelines and Best Practices: Learn about the principles of good data management and how to apply them to your research.
  • Tools and Resources: Discover software and services available to assist you in managing your data.
  • Support and Training: Access workshops, tutorials, and one-on-one support to enhance your data management skills.
  • Policies and Compliance: Stay informed about UNISA's data management policies and relevant legal and ethical considerations.

We encourage you to explore the guide and make the most of the resources provided. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Tinyiko Dube.

Reasons for Citing Data

Data requires citations for the same reasons journal articles and other types of publications require citations: to acknowledge the original author/producer and to help other researchers find the resource.

Citing data is important because it:

  • Acknowledges and provides credit to the originator of the data
  • Allows verification of data and results, facilitating their re-use in further research
  • Enables data citation metrics (the impact of data) to be tracked.
Data citation has benefits for researchers as it:
  • Makes data publications more acceptable for CVs and journals
  • Facilitates discovery of grey literature.

The flow chart below from the Australian National Data Service illustrates the benefits of data citation. 

Citing Data

A dataset citation includes all of the same components as any other citation:

  • author,
  • title,
  • year of publication,
  • publisher (for data this is often the archive where it is housed),
  • edition or version, and
  • access information (a URL or other persistent identifier such as a doi or handle).

It is important to cite / reference data correctly and consistently. 

The following provide useful guidelines on how to do this:

Citation Software

Citation software helps you to:

  • import citations from your favorite databases and websites.
  • build and organize bibliographies.
  • format citations for papers.
  • take notes on articles and save them in your collection of citations.
  • save and organize PDFs, screenshots, graphs, images, and other files for your research.

Examples include: