The document summarizes a joint statement from a data citation synthesis group on the principles of linkability and citability of research data. The group was made up of 36 members from around 20 organizations. They compared existing data citation principles and merged them into a consensus set of 8 principles. The principles state that data should be considered citable research products, attribution should be given to all data contributors, data citations should be provided when claims rely on data, citations should include persistent unique identifiers, citations should facilitate access to data and metadata, metadata and identifiers should persist beyond data lifespan, citations should include version/subset details, and citation methods should be flexible enough within communities but not differ so much as to compromise interoperability.