Data set mentions and citations: A content analysis of full‐text publications

Abstract

This study provides evidence of data set mentions and citations in multiple disciplines based on a content analysis of 600 publications in PLoS One. We find that data set mentions and citations varied greatly among disciplines in terms of how data sets were collected, referenced, and curated. While a majority of articles provided free access to data, formal ways of data attribution such as DOIs and data citations were used in a limited number of articles. In addition, data reuse took place in less than 30% of the publications that used data, suggesting that researchers are still inclined to create and use their own data sets, rather than reusing previously curated data. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of how data sets are used in science and helps institutions and publishers make useful data policies.

How research data is cited in scholarly literature: A case study of HINTS

“…Mooney reported that 29% of the sampled publications provided formal citations to datasets in reference lists (Mooney, ). Yet, other studies suggested that a vast majority of the publications provided data citations or mentions in the methods sections (He & Nahar, ; Zhao et al, ).…”

“…Several studies demonstrated that researchers use a wide variety of ways to refer to datasets (Callaghan, ; Henderson & Kotz, ; Major, ; Mooney, ; Pepe, Goodman, Muench, Crosas, & Erdmann, ; Zhao et al, ). Belter () supported this by noting that 377 variant formats of citing the same data were found.…”

“…Belter () supported this by noting that 377 variant formats of citing the same data were found. It was also shown that the most common method of citing data was to provide the URLs of datasets, which was mentioned as a surprising result given the active promotion of DOIs by data‐related institutions (Huang, Rose, & Hsu, ; Peters, Kraker, Lex, Gumpenberger, & Gorraiz, ; Zhao et al, ). The use of URLs as a sole attribute for citing data also raised concerns about the persistent accessibility of data due to the unstable nature of URLs (Lawrence, Jones, Matthews, Pepler, & Callaghan, ; Zhao et al, ).…”

“…It was also shown that the most common method of citing data was to provide the URLs of datasets, which was mentioned as a surprising result given the active promotion of DOIs by data‐related institutions (Huang, Rose, & Hsu, ; Peters, Kraker, Lex, Gumpenberger, & Gorraiz, ; Zhao et al, ). The use of URLs as a sole attribute for citing data also raised concerns about the persistent accessibility of data due to the unstable nature of URLs (Lawrence, Jones, Matthews, Pepler, & Callaghan, ; Zhao et al, ). Besides identifiers, data citation should include core metadata, such as author, title, or year, although such metadata for datasets were extremely heterogeneous across disciplines (Callaghan, ).…”

“…Some studies noted disciplinary variations in data citation behaviours (Robinson‐García, Jiménez‐Contreras, & Torres‐Salinas, ; Zhao et al, ). Robinson‐García et al .…”