Collection Criteria: ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature

The ICPSR Bibliography of Data-Related Literature contains citations of data-related literature—that is, publications, papers, presentations, Web pages, or other information objects that meet at least one of the following criteria:

  1. Contain analysis of data archived by ICPSR (including publications by the original principal investigator as well as articles containing secondary analysis). These analyses can include the use of the original PI data, data disseminated in printed form or on the ICPSR Web site, or where the exact source cannot be determined from the publication, as long as the data have been archived by ICPSR. 
  2. Contain discussion, critique, or extension of another’s data analysis of a kind that would have required the author to work with the original raw data.
  3. Contain discussion, critique, or extension of another’s data analysis, which might lead a reader to consult the original raw data.
  4. Contain discussion or critique of the data source in general, such as caveats on the use of a particular study that contain more than the simple statement that the data are problematic.
  5. Quote the data in charts that are newly compiled by the author (i.e. not charts reproduced from the PI’s publication of the data).
  6. If the publication does not use (manipulate or analyze) the data, but refers to hypotheses which the data were used to establish or critique, it should be included only if the references to the data are extensive and can be distinguished from the references to the original publication. For example, a review article that discusses an NIJ study from the point of view of data quality or study design would be included. One that discusses only the logic of its conclusions, or makes only a passing mention of a study, would not be included.
  7. Contain discussion or critique of the data collection process, study design, or methodology.

A key factor in determining whether or not an article relates to an ICPSR study is whether or not the article refers to data. Often, investigators submit publications to ICPSR for inclusion in the Bibliography, and we find that the article did not analyze study data, but perhaps is about a topic that is related to the study, or that perhaps informed the principal investigators while they designed the study. Such publications are not data-related for the purposes of the Bibliography and should not be entered.

Since some datasets are available from multiple archives or data providers and we cannot always verify that the source of the data used was ICPSR, ICPSR need not be the actual source of the data used in the publication to qualify for inclusion in the Bibliography.