Marine Geoscience Data System

Data Publication

MGDS promotes research data sets as legitimate, internationally-recognized citable contributions to the scientific record. MGDS offers a Data Publication Service that registers scientific data in the DOI® system, making data sets citable as publications with attribution to their investigators as authors. MGDS, through IEDA, is a publication agent as part of the DataCite consortium.

Resources

How to Cite Data

A data set can be cited using its DOI. The DataCite recommendation is to use the format:

To create a link to a data set using its DOI, simply add the DOI to the base URL of http://dx.doi.org/.

For example, a data set registered by IEDA in the DOI system is the P-wave velocity structure from a study of Axial Seamount by Arnulf et al.

Arnulf, Adrien, et al., (2018): Three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure of Axial volcano on the Juan de Fuca ridge. Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA). http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/IEDA/324420. Accessed on 29 March 2018.

If you are interested in publishing your data through MGDS, please visit our data submission page.

Data DOI FAQ

Q: What is a DOI?
DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier. It is a uniquely-assigned internationally-recognized text code that is already widely-used within the scientific community to identify published research articles. The use of DOIs has recently been expanded to include data sets. Here is an example of a DOI: 10.1594/IEDA/324420

Q: What data sets are appropriate for a DOI?
Derived data sets that support a publication. Examples: The data tables, grids and maps that appear in a journal article.

Q: I have a data DOI. How do I find the data?
Append the data set DOI to this base URL: http://dx.doi.org/ For example, for the DOI "10.1594/IEDA/324420 ", the URL that links to the data is: http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/IEDA/324420

Q: When registered with a DOI, is a data set considered “published”?

Yes. The data set becomes citable as a stand-alone entity, according to international standards, just like a published paper.

Q: What is the difference between data publication and citation?
Publication makes the data formally available and, following the definition of Mooney and Newton (2012 – see citation below), citation provides the “tool for scholarly acknowledgement” of that publication.

Q: Who is listed as the author of the data set?
The investigator who contributed the data.

Q: What are the benefits of registering data with a DOI?

Q: What is the cost of data set DOI registration?
Nothing: It is free when data sets are registered through MGDS.

Q: Who assigns the DOI to my data set?
When a data set is registered with MGDS, a DOI can be requested. MGDS works with the international DataCite consortium to automatically generate specific DOIs.

Q: Will a DOI expire or become obsolete?
No. Every DOI is permanent and rigourous standards ensure that it is recognized around the world.

Q: What if I have a new version of the data?
DOIs are permanent. So, if an updated data set is submitted for publication its DOI can be linked to the original DOI.

Q: What is an example of a full citation that involves a DOI?
DataCite recommends the following format for citation: Creator (PublicationYear): Title. Publisher. Identifier