Citing TaxonWorks

There are various ways to cite TaxonWorks, products derived from the software, and communities supporting the software. Here we offer general guidelines and some specific examples.

Software

Collective code, documentation and API related material

TaxonWorks Community. 2022. Taxonworks [software and supporting resources], https://taxonworks.org. Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org). Accessible at: https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks.

@misc{taxonworks_software_and_related,
  author = {{TaxonWorks Community}},
  organization = {Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org)},
  title = {TaxonWorks [software and supporting resources], https://taxonworks.org},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks},
}

Code (version free)

TaxonWorks Community (2022) TaxonWorks [software]. Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org). Accessible at: https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks

@misc{taxonworks_software,
  author = {{TaxonWorks Community}},
  organization = {Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org)},
  title = {TaxonWorks [software]},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks},
}

Code at a specific version

TaxonWorks Community (2022) TaxonWorks [software, Version 0.29.0]. Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org). Accessible at https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks/tree/v0.29.0

@misc{taxonworks_software_version_29,
  author = {{TaxonWorks Community}},
  organization = {Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org)},
  title = {TaxonWorks [software, Version 0.29.0]},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonworks/tree/v0.29.0},
}

Documentation (these pages)

TaxonWorks Community (2022) TaxonWorks [documentation]. Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org). [Accessed yyyy/mm/dd] Accessible at https://docs.taxonworks.org

@misc{taxonworks_documentation,
  author = {{TaxonWorks Community}},
  organization = {Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org)},
  title = {TaxonWorks [documentation]},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://docs.taxonworks.org},
  note = {Accessed 2022/1/1}
}

Other

Additional citations, referencing other specific aspects of the project, are concievable, they should follow the examples above. For example they might reference:

• The non-code, but digital (captured and available somewhere, e.g. Issue tracker), contributions to the TaxonWorks community (e.g. opening issues, adding help documentation, etc.)
• The non-code, and not digital, contributions, e.g. people we talked with that gave us ideas (has to be captured somewhere, e.g. personal communications)

Data

General citation guidance

A generalized data citation looks like:

<who, "community" or "individuals>. <year>. <project title, as seen in TW> curated in TaxonWorks [software]. <optional maintainer statement>. Retrieved <date> at <url, e.g. https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1>.

@misc{my_data_in_taxonworks,
  author = {{TaxonWorks Community}},
  organization = {Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org)},
  title = {<Project title as seen in TW> curated in TaxonWorks [software]},
  year = {2022},
  note = {Retrieved <timestamp> at <url>}
}

Other

Additional citation might follow this pattern, and include:

• Citing data in any instance of TaxonWorks, ever, destroyed or not (cross project)
• Citing data in a single instance of TaxonWorks (many projects, e.g. https://sfg.taxonworks.org)

Other guidelines

• We recommend treating all contributors as authors rather than dividing up roles in the citation.
• Reference DOI or other identifier if the data is published and one is available
• Reference a HASH of the data if the data is upublished

Resolving these questions might help to provide additional context:

• Are you citing a) some or b) all of the data (what)?
• Was the data retrieved in a) real time or b) via an "archive" (when)?
• Was the data retrieved a) via an API (e.g. a resource described by https://api.taxonworks.org), b) some public interface (e.g. a portal that uses https://github.com/SpeciesFileGroup/taxonpages) c) within a private version of TaxonWorks (best to archive these publically!) or d) in a post-publication archive (e.g. Zenodo) (how)?

Additional examples

• McElrath TC, Thomas MC, & Yoshida T. 2021. Nomenclature of family Laemophloeidae extracted from Cucujoidea World Catalog curated in TaxonWorks [software]. Retrieved Oct 26, 2021 at https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1/.
• McElrath TC, Thomas MC, & Yoshida T. 2021. Nomenclature of family Laemophloeidae extracted from Cucujoidea World Catalog curated in TaxonWorks [software]. Retrieved Oct 26, 2021 at https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1/.
• Universal Chalcidoidea Database Curators. 2022. Universal Chalcidoidea Database (UCD) curated in TaxonWorks [software]. Accessed on Oct 26, 2021 at https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1/.
• Heraty, John; Woolley, Jim, et al. 2022. Universal Chalcidoidea Database (UCD) curated in TaxonWorks [software]. Accessed on Oct 26, 2021 at https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1/.
• Heraty, John; Woolley, Jim, et al. 2022. Universal Chalcidoidea Database (UCD) curated in TaxonWorks [software]. Species File Group (maintainers, https://speciesfilegroup.org). Retrieved Oct 26, 2021 at https://sfg.taxonworks.org/api/v1/.