How to cite a dataset? I'd like to use Global ID / HDL

benmazzotta

Dear Zotero:

I'd like to import the following dataset into Zotero so I can cite it appropriately. There does not appear to be citation type for datasets in Zotero 2.0.6b. Can I install a plugin or a new style that provides this functionality?

I'm in international relations at the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Here is the study URL:
http://dss.ucsd.edu/~egartzke/

Here is the study's Global ID, per the home page on the site:
hdl:1902.1/12379

Here is the recommended citation format in plain text:
Erik Voeten and Adis Merdzanovic, "United Nations General Assembly Voting Data", http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/12379 UNF:3:Hpf6qOkDdzzvXF9m66yLTg==

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Ben

noksagt

There is not currently support for using hdl identifiers (although it has been discussed), nor UNFs (and I don't know how much they have been discussed). For now, I'd use 'website' or 'document' or some other generic type & put at least the UNF info into 'extra' (if not the 'hdl:' identifier as well (although, given the way you have encoded it, you could just place this in the URL field)).

benmazzotta

Many thanks! I searched the forums but didn't find anything on the topic.

Is there a developers' discussion that I can watch on the topic? How are the standards developed?

benmazzotta

In case anyone is reading further...

The Dataverse Network Project has a set of proposed standards for how to identify and cite datasets that are housed on dataverse servers.

http://thedata.org/citation/standard

I believe that the Dataverse Network Project contains sufficient information to create a new Zotero object type.

Datasets are not currently in the list of item types along with, for example, Book, Journal Article, and Blog. The developer site here at Zotero describes how to create custom entries in your list of item types, but cautions that you may cause Zotero to become incompatible with updates and other sites in so doing.

Please drop me a line if you've got any experience with proposing new item types for the Zotero development process. I'd be happy to help explain the fields in the Dataverse Network Project standard, but I don't want to risk breaking my installation of Zotero.

Thank you-

noksagt

Which topic?
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/7245/databases-which-category-to-use/
is similar to your query of "how do I cite stuff that Zotero can't quite model?"

Guess I can't find any Zotero-specific reports on hdl, but they've been discussed in the context of bibo rdf & on the xbiblio list, e.g.:
http://groups.google.com/group/bibliographic-ontology-specification-group/browse_thread/thread/dda8fb062fe2d689/
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=4A2424E8.9080904@gmail.com