Geoff Ford Political Science x Digital Methods

Easy-to-cite Github Pages sites for academic research

My digital methods research with the Mapping LAWS and Mining the Sea projects involves producing various kinds of digital outputs. These digital outputs are part of our research and thinking process, but they are also a key way we are communicating our research with other researchers, policy communities, media and the public. Although not published in a traditional academic medium, we want to make it easy for others to use and, where appropriate, cite our work.

Both project websites are hosted on Github Pages, which uses the Jekyll static site generation software. I know there are other academic researchers creating Github Pages sites to blog or release software and other digital outputs. I thought it would be helpful to document the approach I am using to integrate citations into our websites. Rather than using Github Actions or specific Jekyll plugins, citations are integrated using the Jekyll template/layout system. The approach integrates citations in two forms: recommended citation text and clickable links that allow site visitors to download and import citation data direct into reference management software (e.g. Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote).

There is a Github repository with example code and documentation for anyone interested in using this approach. If you make use of it or have questions, let me know.

Github Repository >