How to cite conflict event data
By Tellurial · Last updated 30 October 2026
Event data changes, and most of it is built from other people’s reporting. A good citation lets a reader find exactly what you used.
In short
- Name the publisher, the dataset, the version or date, and when you retrieved it.
- Follow each dataset’s own rules: ACLED and UCDP both publish theirs.
- Link to the single record when you can, not to a map.
- Say what was reported, not what happened, unless you have checked it.
Why this needs care
A book stays the same after you cite it. Event data does not. Records are corrected, merged and withdrawn as new reports arrive, and a dataset released this month can differ from last month’s for the same period.
There is also no single style guide for this kind of data. We looked for one and found only the instructions each dataset gives for itself, so the safest approach is to follow those, and to add the details below.
What every citation needs
| Element | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Publisher and dataset | Tells the reader whose coding rules apply. |
| Version or date | The same query can return different results later. |
| Retrieval date | Shows which state of the record you saw. |
| Record link or ID | Lets the reader check one event instead of searching. |
| Your filters | Period, place and category decide every count you publish. |
What ACLED asks for
ACLED makes use of its data conditional on attribution. Its attribution policy, dated 20 September 2026 when we read it, asks for a full citation in a footnote that links to its website, and an acknowledgement in the text that ACLED is the source.
Charts and maps need a citation on the visual itself. For academic work, ACLED asks you to cite its dataset article: Raleigh, Kishi and Linke, “Political instability patterns are obscured by conflict dataset scope conditions, sources, and coding choices”, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2023.
What UCDP asks for
The UCDP GED codebook (version 25.1) asks you to always cite Sundberg and Melander, “Introducing the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset”, Journal of Peace Research, 2013, and to cite the codebook when appropriate. It also asks you to always include the version number in analyses.
How to cite a WarStrikes event
Every public event has its own page. Cite that page rather than the map, so your reader lands on the record and its sources.
WarStrikes (Tellurial), “Drone strike reported on port infrastructure”, retrieved 30 October 2026, warstrikes.com/event/…
The title above is an example. Copy the title and address from the event page, and add the date you read it.
Cite the record or the report?
An event record is built from source reports. When a specific claim matters, such as a casualty figure or an attribution, go to the report behind it and cite that too. A record tells you that something was reported; the report tells you who said it.
Write what the evidence supports: “reported”, “according to”, and the name of the source. Our records describe what sources said, not confirmed facts, and the same is true of most event data.
Charts and maps
- Put the source and the retrieval date on the image, because images travel without their article.
- State the period, the place and the categories you included.
- Say how you handled events with imprecise locations. See location precision in conflict event data.
Common mistakes
- Linking to a live map, which will show something else tomorrow.
- Leaving out the version or date, so a reader cannot reproduce the numbers.
- Counting events from two datasets as if they used the same rules.
- Treating a count of reported events as a full count of what happened.
Sources
Rules change. Check each dataset’s current policy before you publish.