Cite the Data
Why you should cite data
Citing the data you use in your research is just as important as citing published papers - it is simply good research practice.
A few tips for citing data properly:
- Mention your data source early, ideally in the abstract
- Include a dedicated data section so readers can immediately see what underlies your findings
- Reference your data sources in tables
- Cite data in your reference list - references are indexed more often than full-text papers, so this boosts visibility
- Cite the exact version of the dataset you used to support data discovery
- Use the citation that is provided with the data, and include the unique identifier (e.g. DOI).
Each dataset from DataFirst has a recommended citation included in its metadata record. This citation includes a unique, persistent identifying number. This number must be included when you cite the data in your reference list and data availability statement.
To cite our data, check the Recommended Citation field in the metadata provided with each dataset. The citation format is as follows:
Name of producer. Survey name and date [dataset]. Version number. Place of production: Producer [producer], date of production. Place of distribution: Distributor [distributor]. DOI:
For example:
Statistics South Africa. General Household Survey 2018 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics SA [producer], 2019. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/9tmn-fz97.
Contact our helpdesk support[at]data1st.org for help with citing our data in your published research.