[Esip-citationguidelines] scooped in 1979

[Mark Parsons]

Dodd, S. A. (1979). Bibliographic references for numeric social science data files: Suggested guidelines. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 30(2), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.4630300203 

If you are paywalled, try: sci-hub.do/10.1002/asi.4630300203

A few observations:
- it grapples with many of the same issues we do - the vagueness of how data are currently referenced, the inadequacy of current standards, the challenge of defining the citable object, the notion of machine readability, the confusion around terms and roles…
- the elements it defines aren’t that much different than ours. I love “General material designator” sorta like type but also akin to identifier. They also pay good attention to versioning and author roles. Sound familiar?
- it might have worked if the internet and then the web hadn’t followed so soon after.
- the conclusion about uptake is charmingly naive (see note about internet above)
- it notes the need to be able to cite data even before it is archived!
- more evidence that social science data, especially census data, tend to be pioneers in data science

cheers,

-m.