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Research Data Management

A comprehensive guide to the best practices for planning, collecting, working with, sharing and reusing research data

Reusing Data


Reusing existing data can save researchers time and efforts, and accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. When reusing data for your research, you need to check and comply with the condition of reuse. You should also cite the data properly if you have reused any data in your research.

If you are looking for information about finding datasets for reuse, please refer to this page.

Data Citation


Similar to using information from other sources, the use of data from others requires citation. Here are the guidelines and examples for data citation:

Key components in a data citation:

The styles and formats for data citation vary across disciplines, but there are some key components that should be included in a data citation:

  • creator(s) or contributor(s)
  • date of publication
  • title of dataset
  • publisher identifier (e.g. Handle, ARK, DOI) or URL of source
  • version, when appropriate
  • date accessed, when appropriate
How do I properly cite data?

Source: Cambridge University Press - Academic. (2020, May 20). How do I properly cite data? [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/TTw64Xrh87I

Examples of data citation styles of citing this dataset:

Cool, H. E. M., & Bell, M. (2011). Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber [Data set]. doi:10.5284/1000389

Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. “Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber.” Archaeology Data Service, 2001. Web. 1 May 2011. ⟨http: //dx.doi.org/10.5284/1000389⟩.

Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. 2011. Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber. doi:10.5284/1000389.

Cool, H. E. M.; Mark Bell, 2011, "Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber", https://doi.org/10.5284/1000389, Archaeology Data Service


info The default data citations in Dataverse are based on the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (2014).

Cool, H. E. M., & Bell, M. (2011). Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber [Data set]. doi:10.5284/1000389

Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. “Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber.” Archaeology Data Service, 2001. Web. 1 May 2011. ⟨http: //dx.doi.org/10.5284/1000389⟩.

Cool, H. E. M., and Mark Bell. 2011. Excavations at St Peter’s Church, Barton-upon-Humber. doi:10.5284/1000389.

For more data citation styles, please refer to the "How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications" guide by the DCC.