Hi Alistair,

First of all, thank you for your question, as your description of the problem is a really helpful contribution to the discussion of data citation requirements.  You've had some helpful answers offering possible solutions. I don't know how extensively you had researched the area of data citation already (so apologies if any of the below is obvious).  I was going to answer from a slightly different perspective.

I wanted to suggest that you seem to have identified two slightly different, albeit connected, requirements.  The need to archive your data persistently, and the need to reference and cite it persistently.  Arguably, as you somewhat imply, aiming for the latter requirement does not make a whole lot of sense without trying to satisfy the former.  Some systems (like the ones suggested) may offer you a solution to both, however you could separate out the two requirements and consider separate solutions.  I wasn't sure if the 'archiving' of the data was already met through the MalariaGen system - was it mainly persistent citation and lightweight paper solutions that you were looking for?  There is some further general background on infrastructure and identification/citation mechanisms in the DCC guide on data citation in case you have not seen it already (disclosure: I am a co-author)[1].  The publishing of a data paper that you seek (ie the narrative to go with the data) might be yet a third, separate but connected, requirement.

As mentioned in the DCC guide, in the JISC-funded SageCite project [2] the focus for citation was more on workflows, and we worked with the Taverna team, using myExperiment to store workflows,and experiment with DOIs. Sage Bionetworks who were partners in that work, offer the Synapse platform [3] which was still in early development at the point that the project ended, and I'm not sure yet if it is at a stage where it can meet your citation needs, but you could have a look (citation and attribution are of interest to SageBionetworks, hence the partnership in SageCite).  

The Nature Genetics paper [4] that describes microattribution as a way to attribute observation of genetic variation may also be of interest?  Open Network Biology has a focus of network-based models, and may be too specific for your needs, but is also worth a mention for more general interest in the types of solutions you are after.

Hope some of that is of interest - more generally, if not specifically to provide a solution to you.
Best wishes,
Monica

[1] Ball, A. & Duke, M. (2011).  How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications. DCC How-to Guides. Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre.
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/cite-datasets
[2] http://blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/sagecite/
[3] https://synapse.sagebase.org/
[4] http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v43/n4/full/ng.785.html
[5] http://www.opennetworkbiology.com/

On 3 Aug 2012, at 11:38, Brian Hole wrote:

Hi Alistair,

Just a quick note that we're in the process of expanding the data journal platform that the Journal of Open Archaeology Data Norman mentions is on, to include among other things data journals for epidemiology/public health, climatology, clinical trials, ecology and psychology. I'll send you an offline message regarding the epidemiology data journal, and would welcome contact from anyone else interested in these journals as well!

Best,
Brian

-- 
Brian Hole
Ubiquity Press Ltd.

www.ubiquitypress.com
www.twitter.com/ubiquitypress
--

On 3 August 2012 10:45, Hole, Brian <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
________________________________________
From: Norman Gray [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 August 2012 17:22
To: Research Data Management discussion list
Cc: Hole, Brian
Subject: Re: advice on publishing and citing data

Alistair, hello.

On 2012 Aug 2, at 12:49, Alistair Miles wrote:

> I was hoping for some sort of data journal that allowed us to publish
> super-lightweight data papers that are basically an abstract, some
> metadata, and the dataset itself, and then gave us a DOI or some other
> persistent and trackable means of citation. But I couldn't find
> anything appropriate.

That more-or-less describes "Journal of Open Archaeology Data" <http://openarchaeologydata.metajnl.com/> (except that it's not in the right area).

The premise of this journal is that it publishes exactly the sort of lightweight data paper you're describing.

Brian Hole (cc-ed, in case he's on on this list) might know of analogous journals in the right area.

Best wishes,

Norman


--
Norman Gray  :  http://nxg.me.uk
SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, UK