Below is citation guidance for a “Quarterly Sales Compilation” data source. Use the templates as-is and replace placeholders with your dataset’s metadata. Two scenarios are covered: public datasets (with DOI/URL) and internal/proprietary datasets (no public link).
Metadata checklist to capture before citing
- Responsible entity (organization or individual authors)
- Year of publication or release
- Dataset title and subtitle
- Version or release tag (e.g., v1.3; “FY2024 Q1–Q4”)
- Publisher or hosting platform (org or repository)
- Persistent identifier (DOI preferred) or stable URL
- Coverage period (e.g., 2024-Q1 to 2024-Q4)
- Date accessed or data extract timestamp (if no DOI or for internal data)
Preferred citation (APA 7th)
Public dataset (with DOI/URL)
- Organization/Author. (Year). Quarterly sales compilation: [Coverage period] (Version) [Data set]. Publisher/Repository. https://doi.org/DOI
Example (replace placeholders):
- Acme Corporation Analytics. (2025). Quarterly sales compilation: FY2024 Q1–Q4 (v1.2) [Data set]. Acme Open Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.1234/acme.qsales.2024
Internal/proprietary dataset (no public link)
- Organization/Author. (Year). Quarterly sales compilation: [Coverage period] (Version) [Unpublished internal data set]. Department/Division. Retrieved [Access date] from internal system [System name/URL if applicable].
Example (replace placeholders):
- Acme Corporation Analytics. (2025). Quarterly sales compilation: FY2024 Q1–Q4 (v1.2) [Unpublished internal data set]. Enterprise Data Office. Retrieved 2025-09-28 from SAP BW.
Alternative styles
Chicago (Author–Date)
- Public: Organization/Author. Year. “Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period].” Version. Data set. Publisher/Repository. DOI/URL.
- Internal: Organization/Author. Year. “Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period].” Version. Unpublished internal data set, Department/Division. Accessed [date]. [System/source].
IEEE
- Public: Organization/Author, “Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period],” [Data set], Version, Publisher/Repository, Year. [Online]. Available: DOI/URL. [Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD].
- Internal: Organization/Author, “Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period],” Unpublished internal data set, Version, Department/Division, Year. [Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD]. [Source/System].
Harvard
- Public: Organization/Author, Year. Quarterly sales compilation: [Coverage period]. Version. [Data set]. Publisher/Repository. Available at: DOI/URL (Accessed: DD Mon YYYY).
- Internal: Organization/Author, Year. Quarterly sales compilation: [Coverage period]. Version. [Unpublished internal data set]. Department/Division. Accessed DD Mon YYYY from [System/source].
BibTeX (for reference managers)
- Public:
@dataset{org_quarterly_sales_[year],
author = {Organization or Authors},
title = {Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period]},
year = {Year},
version = {Version},
publisher = {Publisher/Repository},
doi = {DOI},
url = {URL if no DOI},
type = {dataset},
note = {Data set}
}
- Internal:
@misc{org_quarterly_sales_internal_[year],
author = {Organization or Authors},
title = {Quarterly Sales Compilation: [Coverage period]},
year = {Year},
version = {Version},
howpublished = {Unpublished internal data set},
institution = {Department/Division},
note = {Retrieved YYYY-MM-DD from [System/source]}
}
Short-form source lines for charts and dashboards
- Public: Source: [Org], Quarterly Sales Compilation (Q1–Q4 2024, v1.2), DOI: 10.xxxx/xxxxx.
- Internal: Source: [Org], Quarterly Sales Compilation (Q1–Q4 2024, v1.2), extracted 2025-09-28 from [System].
Best-practice notes for data provenance and reproducibility
- Always include coverage period and version/release date for quarterly series.
- Prefer DOIs over raw URLs. If no DOI, include an accessed date for web links.
- For rolling revisions, state “as of” timestamps (e.g., “as of 2025-09-28”) in footnotes.
- If the compilation applies transformations (e.g., currency normalization, returns exclusions), add a brief methods note near the source line: “Net of credit memos posted post-quarter close; currency converted to USD at month-end WM/Refinitiv rates.”
If you provide your specific metadata (organization, year, coverage, version, publisher/repository, DOI/URL, system), I can output finalized citations in your required style.
