Citing statistics and data: where are we today?

It has been fifteen years since Sue Dodd presented her discussion paper entitled: Bibliographic References for Computer Files in the Social Sciences: at the 1990 IASSIST conference. Since then very little has transpired to improve the use of citations even though statistics and data today has become more complex with the variety of data formats available. It is time to resume the discussion. This paper explores the challenge for IASSIST and IFDO in developing and promoting a culture of citing statistics and data. Existing practices will be discussed as well as the link between metadata and citation i.e. Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) to Data Citation Initiative (DCI). The characteristics of proper citation will be noted including the benefits of full and consistent citations to users, data producers and data distributors. Lastly, an exciting new web tool for citing statistics and data, available through the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) in Canada, will be demonstrated.