How should research data or software be cited?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:19:54 +0000

Citation styles vary by subject and publisher.
Ask your colleagues or publisher in advance or consult a guidebook on scientific research that deals with the conventions of your field.
The following is an example of how to cite data in a bibliography according to a recommendation by FORCE11:

Author(s) (Year of Publication): Title of Research Data. Data Repository or Archive. Version. Globally persistent Identificator (preferably a URL)

Software can be cited as follows:

Author(s) (Year of Publication): Title of Software (Version). [Form, e.g. Computer Software] Source as a URL and/or DOI (Date of last retrieval)

More information on this topic can be found here:

The literature management program EndNote (version X5 and later) provides citation templates for research data and software.
If you know the DOI of the data you want to cite, you can use the DOI Citation Formatter to convert it into a full reference with different quotation styles (http://software.ac.uk/so-exactly-what-software-did-you-use).
https://ltl.lincoln.ac.nz/research/citing-data/

What are the professional options for publishing research software?

Isabelle Delker — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:02:51 +0000

Using a software repository (see http://software.ac.uk/resources/guides/choosing-repository-your-software-project). GitHub is often used for this purpose. You can also connect DOIs to versions of your software on Github and Zenodo. This makes identification and citation easier.
Publish in a software journal (see http://software.ac.uk/resources/guides/which-journals-should-i-publish-my-software)
Small programs consisting of only a few lines of code can be added to your research data as a text file.

Research Software – University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg

How should research data or software be cited?

What are the professional options for publishing research software?