Do the right thing. Enhancing Research Practices through Data Citation

Data citation is essential for recognising research data as independent scientific outputs, promoting transparency, and ensuring reproducibility. Proper data citation ensures that researchers receive appropriate credit for their work. It also makes data findable and accessible, facilitating the verification and replication of research. Machine-actionable data citation enhances the visibility of research by automatically establishing relationships between publications, authors, and data.

However, despite its clear importance, current data citation practices often fall short of supporting openness, FAIRness, and the ethical and impactful use of research data. To address this gap, the CESSDA Key Topic Working Group on Data Citation has developed comprehensive recommendations to foster a sustainable data citation culture. These recommendations identify the core components of a data citation (author(s), title, publication year, version, data publisher, and a persistent identifier) and supplementary elements that can add value. Even more importantly, they provide concrete, advised best practices and technical implementations for various stakeholders, including authors, publishers, data repositories, research performing organisations, policymakers, and ethics committees. These practices highlight the benefits of proper citation and make data citations more effective and impactful.

This presentation details these recommendations, their motivations, and the planned dissemination strategy. We also present an analysis of current data citation practices and support among CESSDA service providers, highlighting current strengths and areas for improvement. The results are based on a 2024 survey that informed the service provider community about the recommendations in development. By sharing these insights, we aim to foster dialogue and collaboration and encourage the broader research community to adopt and support improved data citation practices.