1. Determine an appropriate long-term repository for data archiving. Your publisher should provide access to a list of acceptable archival repositories.
2. Deposit your data and get an accession number or dataset DOI from the repository.
1. Cite what you use. When using the data of others, cite both the related peer-reviewed literature and the actual datasets used.
2. Include ‘formal’ data citations whenever possible: When datasets have formal, stable identifiers or accession numbers, they should be included in the main reference list.
3. Be as complete as possible, but don’t invent metadata: If a data record does not have a clear author/creator or title, don’t make one up.
4. Refer to your publisher’s Guide for Authors to format your dataset reference.
Citing datasets used in published research is just as important as citing journal articles, books, and other sources that contributed to the research. The most important thing to remember is that you want your citation to include enough information so that a reader could find the same dataset again in the future, even if the link you provide no longer works.
(Source: http://wiki.ubc.ca/Library:How_to_Cite_Data)
Refer to your author guidelines or style guide to properly arrange and format these citation elements. Many data providers also recommend their preferred citation or supply an example. The elements listed below are the minimum elements required for dataset identification and retrieval:
Author: Name(s) of each individual or organizational entity responsible for the creation of the dataset.
Date of Publication: Year the dataset was published or disseminated.
Title: Complete title of the dataset, including the edition or version number, if applicable.
Publisher and/or Distributor: Organizational entity that makes the dataset available by archiving, producing, publishing, and/or distributing the dataset.
Electronic Location or Identifier: Web address or unique, persistent, global identifier used to locate the dataset (such as a DOI). Append the date retrieved if the title and locator are not specific to the exact instance of the data you used.
Fewer or Additional elements may be requested by author guidelines or style manuals. Be sure to include as many elements as needed to precisely identify the dataset you have used.
Examples Using General Rules
Arrange these elements following the order and punctuation specified by your style guide. If examples for datasets are not provided, the format for books is generally considered a generic format that can be modified for other source types.
APA (6th edition)
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
MLA (7th edition)
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
Chicago (16th edition) (author-date)
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
(Source: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/files/ICPSR/enewsletters/iassist.html)