[R] citing old(er) versions of packages

[Ivan Calandra]

Dear Marc,

Thank you, exactly what I needed!

Best,
Ivan

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
TraCEr, laboratory for Traceology and Controlled Experiments
MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and
Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

On 16/01/2020 18:31, Marc Schwartz wrote:
>> On Jan 16, 2020, at 12:03 PM, Ivan Calandra <calandra using rgzm.de> wrote:
>>
>> Dear useRs,
>>
>> I want to cite the packages I have used in my analyses for a paper. I
>> have recorded through sessionInfo() which packages and which versions I
>> used for a given analysis.
>>
>> I know how to cite a package using the citation() function, but the
>> problem is that in the meantime, I have updated these packages.
>> citation() returns the citation for the actual installed version. And
>> citations change over time (e.g. with more people getting involved in
>> the development and maintenance of a package).
>>
>> Now the question is how do I find out how to cite a given, not actual
>> version of a package?
>>
>> Thank you in advance.
>> Best regards,
>> Ivan
>
> Hi,
>
> If you know the package versions that you wish to cite and they are no longer installed locally, you can use the content of either the CITATION file for the package, if included, or the content of the DESCRIPTION file, for the relevant version of the package. 
>
> The easiest way to do this may be to download the source tarball for the package from the CRAN archive for the package or wherever the package is located, if not on CRAN.
>
> An alternative, if the package is stored in an online VC system (e.g. Github), is that you may be able to read the relevant file from that system for the version of the file that is tagged appropriately.
>
> Regards,
>
> Marc Schwartz
>
>