For Publishers and Editors: Data Citation Guidelines

Journals and publishers who want to support data citation need to pay attention both the the human and machine side of data citations:

For Humans

  • Guide authors on how to format data citations according to the JDDCP
    • Include information on data citation policy and format in the Instructions to Authors.
    • Information on what data should be cited:
    • Proper citation and deposition of data generated from their study
    • Proper citation of 3rd party or previously generated data used in their study
    • Provide guidance and examples on handling of different types of data
  • Provide guidance on suitable repositories for depositing data. For some examples see
  • Include a “Data availability section” in each article

For Machines

  • Ensure that this formatting is supported and the citation is machine readable through the publishing process, as with other research objects such as books and journals.
    • Data sets are identified as data through an appropriate tag in the DTD
    • Data set metadata are exportable to JATS

Need help developing or implementing a data citation policy?

  • Publisher’s roadmap for implementing data citation:
    Springer-Nature roadmap
  • Expert network at FORCE11 (details forthcoming)