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
  • Springer Nature
  • PLoS
  • Elsevier
• 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)