Citable

Citable is an adjective used to describe information, documents, or statements that are suitable to be cited in scholarly or official writing. When something is citable, it provides enough identifying information—such as author, date, title, and source location—for others to locate and verify it. The term is common in academic libraries, citation policies, and research management, distinguishing sources that can be reliably referenced from general or informal material.

Usage and examples include journal articles, books, government reports, and datasets assigned a DOI or ISBN, which are typically considered citable. A blog post or a news article may be citable if it is written by a credible author, clearly dated, and archived or otherwise persistently accessible; however, what counts as citable can vary by discipline and citation style. Some styles require more stable sources, while others allow nontraditional sources with proper qualifiers.

Criteria and considerations for citable material include identifiable authorship, a publication date, and a clear, retrievable location, such as a DOI, persistent URL, or library catalog entry. Reproducibility and verifiability are central: readers should be able to retrieve the exact source and verify its content. The concept also encompasses data and software: datasets with DOIs, software licenses, and code repositories can be cited, provided they offer stable access and clear authorship.

See also: citation, citation style, DOIs, stable URL, bibliographic databases, scholarly communication.