For the past several years data citation has been an important topic in the research community. This paper seeks to address two questions related to this topic: 1) How data citation has grown over the last several years, and 2) What are the limitations of using the Crossref and DataCite's Event Data service as a source of data citation analyses. Event Data is a collaborative service of Crossref and DataCite that retrieves and exposes the activity that occurs around research (publications, research, software, etc.). In this work, we performed an exploratory analysis of data citation dataset collected via Crossref and DataCite's Event Data service. We analyzed data that used the preferred method for data citation according to the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles. Additionally, we examined records downloaded from the Crossref and DataCite's Event Data service and developed a series of recommendations regarding the use of this source for data citation analyses. The analysis shows that data citation is growing at a slow pace. Furthermore, we found data citation differences between publishers and data centers. We identify limitations in terms of identifying the types of relationship between datasets and publications. We anticipate that this will that help identify early patterns of data citation. We also expect that this work would lay the groundwork for future analysis of data citation using the Crossref and DataCite’s Event Data and DataCite services.
