UMSN Global Nursing | Information Resource Toolkit

Just as it's important to cite previous research, it's equally important to cite datasets. By citing data, you increase the transparency of your own work while giving credit to the original data producers. 

Data citations consist of similar elements as standard citations. These include:

• Author (the creator of the dataset)
• Date (the date when the dataset was published or otherwise made available)
• Title (the name of the dataset)
• Publisher (the entity that makes the dataset available, such as the name of a data repository)
• Digital location (ideally a DOI but could also be a web address)

You should expect some variation, including added elements, depending on journal citation specifications or style. 

Although data citation practices are still emerging, you should cite datasets in your References section. This will make it easier for others to find the dataset, while also ensuring that its use is captured correctly in the scholarly record.

Citation is widely used as a metric for evaluating performance in Western academia. Like other cultural practices, citation is susceptible to biases that reflect and reinforce dominant historical power structures of race, gender, and class.

Citation justice is the practice of maintaining an awareness of these biases and actively working to build more inclusive and equitable citation networks within your works. By choosing to cite scholars with varied backgrounds and identities, you intentionally expand the academic conversation, and increase equity and inclusion in your fields.

Some suggestions for inclusive citation practice include:

• Experiment with search terms and sources, and broaden your reading: reading from a range of cultures, races, and other identities can help diversify citations. 
• Audit your citation list. Does it include racialized, female-identified, early-career, or non-academic authors?
• Include a citation diversity statement to increase the transparency of your practice and encourage other scholars to do likewise.

Interested in learning more about citation justice?

• University of Minnesota's guide to conducting anti-racist research
• University of Maryland's citation justice guide
• Michigan State University's guide to AI and citation equality
• Kwon (2022). The rise of citational justice: how scholars are making references fairer. Nature 603(7902): 568-571.
• Mott and Cockayne (2017). Citation matters: mobilizing the politics of citation toward a practice of ‘conscientious engagement.’  Gender, place and culture 24(7): 954-973.

Courtesy: Reiman-Sendi KA, Citation Help, available at https://guides.lib.umich.edu/citationhelp

U-M Deep Blue Data

Almazroa, A. (2018). Retinal fundus images for glaucoma analysis: the RIGA dataset [Data set], University of Michigan - Deep Blue Data. https://doi.org/10.7302/Z23R0R29

ICPSR

Harris, Kathleen Mullan, and Udry, J. Richard. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), 1994-2018 [Public Use]. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill [distributor], Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-08-09. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR21600.v25 

APA Style

Smith, T.W., Marsden, P.V., & Hout, M. (2011). General social survey, 1972-2010 cumulative file (ICPSR31521-v1) [data file and codebook]. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. doi: 10.3886/ICPSR31521.v1

Chicago Style

Smith, Tom W., Peter V. Marsden, and Michael Hout. 2011. General Social Survey, 1972-2010 Cumulative File. ICPSR31521-v1. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center. Distributed by Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. doi:10.3886/ICPSR31521.v1

MLA Style 

Smith, Tom W., Peter V. Marsden, and Michael Hout. General Social Survey, 1972-2010 Cumulative File. ICPSR31521-v1. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011. Web. 23 Jan 2012. doi:10.3886/ICPSR31521.v1