Document best practices for citing Source

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Citing Source Cooperative

Citing a dataset

When citing a dataset hosted on Source Cooperative, use the formats below. If the dataset has a DOI, use that in preference to the URL.

APA (7th ed.)

With DOI:

Creator(s). (Year). Dataset title [Data set]. Source Cooperative. https://doi.org/xxxxx (Accessed YYYY-MM-DD)

Without DOI:

Creator(s). (Year). Dataset title [Data set]. Source Cooperative. https://source.coop/[org]/[repository] (Accessed YYYY-MM-DD)

Chicago (Author-Date)

With DOI:

Creator(s). Year. "Dataset title." Data set. Source Cooperative. Accessed Month DD, YYYY. https://doi.org/xxxxx.

Without DOI:

Creator(s). Year. "Dataset title." Data set. Source Cooperative. Accessed Month DD, YYYY. https://source.coop/[org]/[repository].

BibTeX / DataCite

With DOI:

@dataset{,
  author    = {},
  title     = {},
  year      = {},
  publisher = {Source Cooperative},
  doi       = {},
  urldate   = {YYYY-MM-DD},
}

Without DOI:

@dataset{,
  author    = {},
  title     = {},
  year      = {},
  publisher = {Source Cooperative},
  url       = {https://source.coop/[org]/[repository]},
  urldate   = {YYYY-MM-DD},
}

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Access dates

Source Cooperative datasets resolve to their current state and do not currently support versioned snapshots. An access date is required in all citations, including those with a DOI, since the DOI resolves to a dataset landing page that may change over time. The access date allows readers to understand which state of the dataset was used at the time of research.

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Citing Source Cooperative as a platform

If you are citing Source Cooperative itself — for example, when describing the infrastructure used to publish or access data — use:

APA:

Radiant Earth. (2026). Source Cooperative [Data repository]. https://source.coop

BibTeX:

@misc{sourcecooperative,
  author       = {{Radiant Earth}},
  title        = {Source Cooperative},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://source.coop}},
  note         = {Data repository},
}

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For dataset publishers

To make your dataset easy to cite, ensure your repository includes the following metadata:

• Creator(s) — individual authors or the publishing organization
• Year — year of publication or last major update
• Title — a clear, descriptive dataset title

If your dataset has an externally assigned DOI, add it to your repository metadata so it can be surfaced to users and included in citation exports.

Start with the proposed citation text in this issue and locate the appropriate documentation page in the docs site. Add the dataset, access-date, platform, and publisher guidance described there, then verify the published page renders the APA, Chicago, and BibTeX examples correctly.