Dear Achim, Thanks for the comment. Here is the publisher's style guideline (AGU) "Because the Internet is dynamic environment and sites may change or move, treat World Wide Web, ftp files, and electronically archived data stored at data centers other than World or National Data Centers as unpublished, i.e., in text only." http://www.agu.org/pubs/AuthorRefSheet.pdf So by this policy, R and its packages cannot be included in the list of references and has the same citation as a pers.comm. The problem for my paper can be resolved by removing the citation from references to text, but this seems unfair to R and the package authors for AGU publications. AGU does recognize some permanent data archives listed here http://www.agu.org/pubs/datacent.html - maybe it would make sense to have a mirror at one of these permanent archives for packages and versions. Regards, Steve McIntyre ----- Original Message ----- From: "Achim Zeileis" <Achim.Zeileis at wu-wien.ac.at> To: "Steve McIntyre" <stephen.mcintyre at utoronto.ca> Cc: <R-help at r-project.org> Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 5:06 PM Subject: Re: [R] R Citation> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:42:41 -0500 Steve McIntyre wrote: > > > I've cited R in an article accepted by a journal using the following > > reference: > > > > >R Development Core Team (2004), R: A language and environment for > > >statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, > > >Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-00-3, <http://www.Rproject.org>. > ^^^^^ ^^^^ > > The ISBN is 3-900051-07-0 and the URL http://www.R-project.org/. > > > I received the following query about my citation. > > > > > 7. For R Development Core Team [2004], you provided both an ISBN > > > and a > > > Web site address. If this is a book, please provide the name and > > > location of the publisher. If you do not have print publication > > > information, the Web site will be cited in text only, and the > > > reference will be removed from the reference list. > > > > I'd appreciate advice on this. I had a similar query about a similar > > citation of an R package. > > Well, both R and the package are software and no books, so print > publication information cannot be available. You could either argue that > you want to cite software and that the information is complete, or (if > the publisher of the journal would not accept that) argue that both are > manuals which you want to cite (for which the publisher should have a > citation style). > One would hope that the latter is not necessary as a publisher should > always allow a possibility to properly cite software used in a > scientific article... > > hth, > Z > > > Thanks, Steve McIntyre > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > > > ______________________________________________ > > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > PLEASE do read the posting guide! > > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > >
On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 17:48:39 -0500 Steve McIntyre wrote:> Dear Achim, Thanks for the comment. Here is the publisher's style > guideline(AGU) > "Because the Internet is dynamic environment and sites may change or > move, treat World Wide Web, ftp files, and electronically archived > data stored at data centers other than World or National Data Centers > as unpublished, i.e., in text only." > http://www.agu.org/pubs/AuthorRefSheet.pdfMy understanding of this is that you cannot refer to files (especially documents and data files) in the references. A software package is neither. So maybe you should just remove the URL? For proprietary software packages, you don't have a URL from which you can download it, but nevertheless you should cite the software you used in an article. In short: The text above does not provide a guideline on how to cite software (afaics), and thus it does not apply to citing R or R packages. my EUR 0.02 Z> So by this policy, R and its packages cannot be included in the list > of references and has the same citation as a pers.comm. The problem > for my paper can be resolved by removing the citation from references > to text, but this seems unfair to R and the package authors for AGU > publications. AGU does recognize some permanent data archives listed > here http://www.agu.org/pubs/datacent.html - maybe it would make sense > to have a mirror at one of these permanent archives for packages and > versions. > > Regards, Steve McIntyre > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Achim Zeileis" <Achim.Zeileis at wu-wien.ac.at> > To: "Steve McIntyre" <stephen.mcintyre at utoronto.ca> > Cc: <R-help at r-project.org> > Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 5:06 PM > Subject: Re: [R] R Citation > > > > On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:42:41 -0500 Steve McIntyre wrote: > > > > > I've cited R in an article accepted by a journal using the > > > following reference: > > > > > > >R Development Core Team (2004), R: A language and environment for > > > >statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, > > > >Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-00-3, <http://www.Rproject.org>. > > ^^^^^ ^^^^ > > > > The ISBN is 3-900051-07-0 and the URL http://www.R-project.org/. > > > > > I received the following query about my citation. > > > > > > > 7. For R Development Core Team [2004], you provided both an > > > > ISBN and a > > > > Web site address. If this is a book, please provide the name > > > > and location of the publisher. If you do not have print > > > > publication information, the Web site will be cited in text > > > > only, and the reference will be removed from the reference list. > > > > > > I'd appreciate advice on this. I had a similar query about a > > > similar citation of an R package. > > > > Well, both R and the package are software and no books, so print > > publication information cannot be available. You could either argue > > that you want to cite software and that the information is complete, > > or (if the publisher of the journal would not accept that) argue > > that both are manuals which you want to cite (for which the > > publisher should have a citation style). > > One would hope that the latter is not necessary as a publisher > > should always allow a possibility to properly cite software used in > > a scientific article... > > > > hth, > > Z > > > > > Thanks, Steve McIntyre > > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > > > > > ______________________________________________ > > > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > > PLEASE do read the posting guide! > > > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > > > > >
It seems to me that the simple solution (for R, not the packages) is to remove the URL from the citation. To answer the journal's query, the publisher of the book is the R Foundation for Statistical Computing, located in Vienna. That the book is not available at Amazon makes it no less a book in today's world. It has an ISBN -- what more can one ask? Schlagsahne? MHP Steve McIntyre wrote:>Dear Achim, Thanks for the comment. Here is the publisher's style guideline >(AGU) >"Because the Internet is dynamic environment and sites may change or move, >treat World Wide Web, ftp files, and electronically archived data stored at >data centers other than World or National Data Centers as unpublished, i.e., >in text only." http://www.agu.org/pubs/AuthorRefSheet.pdf > >So by this policy, R and its packages cannot be included in the list of >references and has the same citation as a pers.comm. The problem for my >paper can be resolved by removing the citation from references to text, but >this seems unfair to R and the package authors for AGU publications. AGU >does recognize some permanent data archives listed here >http://www.agu.org/pubs/datacent.html - maybe it would make sense to have a >mirror at one of these permanent archives for packages and versions. > >Regards, Steve McIntyre > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Achim Zeileis" <Achim.Zeileis@wu-wien.ac.at> >To: "Steve McIntyre" <stephen.mcintyre@utoronto.ca> >Cc: <R-help@r-project.org> >Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 5:06 PM >Subject: Re: [R] R Citation > > > > >>On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:42:41 -0500 Steve McIntyre wrote: >> >> >> >>>I've cited R in an article accepted by a journal using the following >>>reference: >>> >>> >>> >>>>R Development Core Team (2004), R: A language and environment for >>>> >>>> >>> >statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, >>> >Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-00-3, <http://www.Rproject.org>. >>> >>> >> ^^^^^ ^^^^ >> >>The ISBN is 3-900051-07-0 and the URL http://www.R-project.org/. >> >> >> >>>I received the following query about my citation. >>> >>> > 7. For R Development Core Team [2004], you provided both an ISBN >>> > and a >>> >>> >>>>Web site address. If this is a book, please provide the name and >>>>location of the publisher. If you do not have print publication >>>>information, the Web site will be cited in text only, and the >>>>reference will be removed from the reference list. >>>> >>>> >>>I'd appreciate advice on this. I had a similar query about a similar >>>citation of an R package. >>> >>> >>Well, both R and the package are software and no books, so print >>publication information cannot be available. You could either argue that >>you want to cite software and that the information is complete, or (if >>the publisher of the journal would not accept that) argue that both are >>manuals which you want to cite (for which the publisher should have a >>citation style). >>One would hope that the latter is not necessary as a publisher should >>always allow a possibility to properly cite software used in a >>scientific article... >> >>hth, >>Z >> >> >> >>>Thanks, Steve McIntyre >>>[[alternative HTML version deleted]] >>> >>>______________________________________________ >>>R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list >>>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >>>PLEASE do read the posting guide! >>>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >>> >>> >>> > >______________________________________________ >R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > >-- Michael H. Prager, Ph.D. Population Dynamics Team NOAA Center for Coastal Habitat and Fisheries Research NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 USA http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/~mprager/ [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
On Friday 21 January 2005 14:48, Steve McIntyre wrote:> Dear Achim, Thanks for the comment. Here is the publisher's style guideline > (AGU) > "Because the Internet is dynamic environment and sites may change or move, > treat World Wide Web, ftp files, and electronically archived data stored at > data centers other than World or National Data Centers as unpublished, > i.e., in text only." http://www.agu.org/pubs/AuthorRefSheet.pdf > > So by this policy, R and its packages cannot be included in the list of > references and has the same citation as a pers.comm. The problem for my > paper can be resolved by removing the citation from references to text, but > this seems unfair to R and the package authors for AGU publications. AGU > does recognize some permanent data archives listed here > http://www.agu.org/pubs/datacent.html - maybe it would make sense to have a > mirror at one of these permanent archives for packages and versions. > > Regards, Steve McIntyre >Steve, Depending upon the actual format of your paper, you might either add a reference to R in your "Methods" or in an acknowledgements section if the format permits such. Looking at the AGU publishing guide, their obvious concern is to insure that the data used in an article are sourced properly. Statistical software, like ground-penetrating radar or a magnetometer for instance, is a tool. Thus it really falls within the scope of methods. It is reasonable in that case to cite the URL in the text. You can also elaborate somewhat and explain sonething of the history and origins of R, citing the The R Reference Manual by the R Development Core Team, which is available through Amazon Books (volume 1 for mere $57.56 plus shipping at present). You ought to be able with a bit of creativity to drag in mention of both the URL and the manuals. Good luck, John