Data sources (optional)
Authors of submissions that use data from multiple published sources
(e.g. if the paper describes a meta-analysis) are encouraged to cite
these data sources in the main text of the manuscript. This ensures that
these references are fully indexed and their authors are given proper
citation credit.
Data sources can be cited in the “Materials and methods” or in the
“Data availability” sections. If a large number of data sources are
used, instead of citing the sources individually, a separate list should
be provided after the literature reference list under the heading “Data
sources”. The Material and methods section should then refer to this
section, i.e. “A list of data sources used in the study are provided in
the Data sources section.”
Data from articles published in journals or data with a DOI should
follow the normal journal citation format. Citation of datasets without
a DOI is permitted, provided the data repository meets the standards set
out in our Data Archiving policy. They should be formatted as above but
should provide the permanent repository link and accession number for
the data.