IN51B-3780:
Why Data Citation Currently Misses the Point

Friday, 19 December 2014
Mark A Parsons, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, United States and Peter Arthur Fox, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY, United States
Abstract:
The concept of data citation is as old as the concept of citation itself. Yet with the birth of digital data, researchers largely stopped formally citing specific data sets. Over the last couple of decades, the data management community has worked to codify data citation practices and associated technologies such as persistent identifiers and automated indices. Nonetheless, digital data sets are rarely cited formally. There are myriad reasons for this, but we believe one problem is that data managers expect too much from data citation and assume false parallels to literature citation. We believe there needs to be a close examination of the purpose as well as practice of data citation, and a careful separation of concerns. We will present some initial ideas and then engage the audience in an open conversation on the topic.