Cite Stata Package?

[Tino Tinsky]

Hey Guys Anybody know how to cite a stata package?

[Clyde Schechter]

From the StataCorp web site:

Citing the Stata software

The suggested citation for the Stata 14 software is

StataCorp. 2015. Stata Statistical Software: Release 14. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.

If you are referring to a user written program, you should check the help file to see whether the author(s) of the program suggest a particular citation. If the program was published in connection with a Stata Journal article it would seem sensible to cite the article.

If there is nothing else, then, I would just write a generic citation mentioning the author(s) name(s), the name of the program and version number, the URL for the website where you got it from and the accession date.

[Sergiy Radyakin]

Tino, it depends what you are writing, where you are submitting, and what is the source of the package. For thesis, dissertation, etc the best advice you get from your librarian.

See for example here (p120):https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/2777

For SSC packages, there is a bibliographic link for every package:
https://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode...98.html#biblio

See also here: http://www.stata.com/statalist/archi.../msg00455.html

Consider writing the version number, date of release or other helpful identifying information for software packages.

Hope this helps.

Best, Sergiy Radyakin

[Nick Cox]

Your journal or other outlet probably has some house style, not to mention rules on what can be cited formally, that will override anything else. Otherwise some suggestions:

1. If it's published via a Stata Journal article, cite the article and mention the software in text. That's easiest to satisfy reviewers, editors and publishers' in-house people.

2. If it's published via an article in some other journal, cite the article as in #1.

3. If it's published via SSC, look at the help page (some authors make suggestions on this); failing that, look at the corresponding web page e.g. https://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s458215.html

4. If it's published (made public) made otherwise, try some variation on #3.

Thanks for the impulse to cite Stata programmers' work and support their contributions.