Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 50-GB dataset on Zenodo with DOI, full metadata, CC-BY licence, cited 200 times across the literature
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A CSV file emailed to a colleague with no repository, DOI, or metadata is not a dataset-as-output
Editorial commentary
A dataset-as-output is a research dataset deposited in a FAIR-aligned repository with a persistent identifier (typically a DataCite DOI), full metadata, a stated licence, and defined access conditions — treated as a citable scholarly output in its own right rather than only as supporting material tucked behind a paper. The FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (2014) and the DataCite Metadata Schema together established the norms that made this possible: a dataset with those properties can be cited directly, the way an article is cited, independent of any paper that describes it.
A research office increasingly sees datasets-as-outputs counted formally: in narrative CVs and structured researcher profiles, in national research-assessment exercises such as the UK’s REF, and, gradually, in promotion and tenure criteria that have historically recognised only articles and books. A dataset may be accompanied by a data paper describing it, but it remains independently citable — the DOI resolves to the dataset itself, not to an article about it.
How it relates to sibling output types
- vs. Model (as output) — a model is a function trained on data; a dataset is the data itself. Both can be deposited and cited the same way, but they are conceptually different artefacts.
- vs. Workflow (as output) — a workflow describes the steps used to produce or analyse a dataset; the dataset is what those steps act on or produce.
- vs. Data validator — validation is a contribution to a dataset’s quality; the dataset-as-output is the resulting citable artefact.
References
- FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (2014).
- DataCite Metadata Schema v4.5.
Also known as
Research dataset (output) · Citable dataset
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Dataset (as output)"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/dataset-as-output" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/dataset-as-output",
"name": "Dataset (as output)",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/dataset-as-output",
"description": "A research dataset deposited in a FAIR-aligned repository with a persistent identifier (typically a DataCite DOI), metadata, licence, and access conditions, treated as a citable scholarly output in its own right rather than only as supporting material for a paper.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-outputs#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/dataset-as-output",
"sameAs": [
"Research dataset (output)",
"Citable dataset"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-21T02:07:40",
"dateModified": "2026-08-22T14:11:49",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
