Linguistic data form not only a record of scholarship, but also of cultural heritage, societal evolution, and human potential. Because of this, the data on which linguistic analyses are based are of fundamental importance to the field and should be treated as such. Linguistic data should be citable and cited, and these citations should be accorded the same importance as citations of other, more recognizable products of linguistic research like publications.
The Austin Principles of Data Citation in Linguistics (Berez-Kroeker et al. 2017)
The Austin Principles of Data Citation in Linguistics
The Linguistics Data Interest Group in the Research Data Alliance have spent the last year working on a document that explains why it’s so important for linguists to make their data ‘citable’. Linguistics builds itself as a discipline that uses empirical evidence to make claims, but so often the reader doesn’t have access to this underlying data to verify the claims (or test their own ideas!). The Austin Principles of Data Citation in Linguistics provide the reasons that citation should be central to all linguistic work. Even if you work with introspection, you may not have data to cite, but making clear that the data come from in introspection is still an important, and often omitted, piece of information.
If you’re a linguist, you can endorse the principles
Even if you’re only just starting your linguistic research career, you can add your name to the list of linguists who endorse the principles. You can also use the principles to start conversations about data citation and management in your lab, class, department, linguistics society, or journal.
If you would like to help shape the future of linguistic data, you can also join us in the RDA Linguistics Data Interest Group (LDIG). This post from April explains what the LDIG is, and why it’s important.
From the Preamble of the Austin Principles:
Data is central to empirical linguistic research. Linguistic data comes in many different forms, and is collected and processed with a wide range of methods. Data citation recognizes the centrality of data to research. Furthermore, it facilitates verification of claims and repurposing of data for other studies.
The FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles* state that “[s]ound, reproducible scholarship rests upon a foundation of robust, accessible data. For this to be so in practice as well as theory, data must be accorded due importance in the practice of scholarship and in the enduring scholarly record. In other words, data should be considered legitimate, citable products of research. Data citation, like the citation of other evidence and sources, is good research practice and is part of the scholarly ecosystem supporting data reuse.”
The FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles is intentionally broad so to be as inclusive of data from as many scientific disciplines as possible. This document, the Austin Principles of Data Citation in Linguistics, interprets the FORCE11 document to address linguistic data specifically. These guiding principles have been created to enable linguists to make decisions about their data that ensure it is as accessible and transparent as possible. Some subfields of linguistics may already have specific guidelines for data citation; in these cases the Austin Principles can supplement extant guidelines to ensure that data citation conforms with current best practices.
What’s next for the Linguistics Data Interest Group
The Austin Principles of Data Citation are the first major output for the LDIG, it focuses on the why of data citation. We’re now focusing on the how of data citation. This includes sharing the Austin Principles, developing more training on research data management, and also working with researchers, archives and publishers to develop data citation standards.
Reference
Berez-Kroeker, A. L., Andreassen, H. N., Gawne, L., Holton, G., Kung, S. S., Pulsifer, P., Collister, L. B., The Data Citation and Attribution in Linguistics Group, & the Linguistics Data Interest Group. 2017. Draft: The Austin Principles of Data Citation in Linguistics (Version 0.1). http://site.uit.no/linguisticsdatacitation/austinprinciples/ Accessed 13/12/2017.
