Citation

Because many users of this schema are members of a variety of academic disciplines, DataCite remains discipline-agnostic concerning matters pertaining to academic style sheet requirements. Therefore, DataCite encourages rather than requires a particular citation format. In keeping with this approach, the following is the preferred format for rendering a DataCite citation for human readers using the mandatory properties of the schema:

Creator (PublicationYear): Title. Publisher. (resourceTypeGeneral). Identifier

It may also be desirable to include information from optional properties, such as Version. This is particularly important to include when citing software. For example:

Creator (PublicationYear): Title. Version. Publisher. (resourceTypeGeneral). Identifier

For citation purposes, DataCite prefers that DOI names are displayed as linkable, permanent URLs, for example, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18; however, the Identifier may appear in its original format. If the original format is chosen, be sure to include the characters doi: prepended to the Identifier as in doi:10.1038/sdata.2016.18.

For resources that do not have a standard publication year value, DataCite recommends that PublicationYear should include the date that is preferred for use in a citation.

Here are several examples:

• Irino, T; Tada, R (2009): Chemical and mineral compositions of sediments from ODP Site 127-797. V. 2.1. Geological Institute, University of Tokyo. (dataset). https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.726855

• Geofon operator (2009): GEFON event gfz2009kciu (NW Balkan Region). GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ). (dataset). https://doi.org/10.1594/GFZ.GEOFON.gfz2009kciu

• Denhard, Michael (2009): dphase_mpeps: MicroPEPS LAF-Ensemble run by DWD for the MAP DPHASE project. World Data Center for Climate. (dataset). https://doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/dphase_mpeps