Creating and publishing scholarly articles with Quarto and GitHub pages

ds4owd - data science for openwashdata

Lars Schöbitz

ETH Zurich

Nov 13, 2025

Q: How do I successfully complete the course?

You successfully complete the course and you will receive a certificate of completion if you:

hand in a complete capstone project report that uses a dataset of your choice by 4th December 2025

Required items: <https://ds4owd-002.github.io/website//project/>

This is the only requirement to successfully complete the course, independent of how many classes you attended or how many homework assignments you completed.

Learning Objectives (for this week)

1. Learners can apply the skills obtained during the course to write a short data analysis project report.

Anatomy of a Quarto document

Components

1. Metadata: YAML

2. Text: Markdown

3. Code: Executed via knitr or jupyter

Weave it all together, and you have beautiful, powerful, and useful outputs!

Literate programming

Literate programming is writing out the program logic in a human language with included (separated by a primitive markup) code snippets and macros.

---
title: "ggplot2 demo"
date: "11/6/2025"
format: html
---

## MPG

There is a relationship between city and highway mileage.

```{r}
#| label: fig-mpg

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(mpg, aes(x = cty, y = hwy)) + 
  geom_point() + 
  geom_smooth(method = "loess")
```

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literate_programming

Metadata

YAML

“Yet Another Markup Language” or “YAML Ain’t Markup Language” is used to provide document level metadata.

---
key: value
---

Output options

---
format: something
---

---
format: html
---

---
format: pdf
---

---
format: revealjs
---

Output option arguments

Indentation matters!

---
format: 
  html:
    toc: true
    code-fold: true
---

YAML validation

• Invalid: No space after :

---
format:html
---

• Invalid: Read as missing

---
format:
html
---

YAML validation

There are multiple ways of formatting valid YAML:

• Valid: There’s a space after :

format: html

• Valid: format: html with selections made with proper indentation

format: 
  html:
    toc: true

Quarto linting

Lint, or a linter, is a static code analysis tool used to flag programming errors, bugs, stylistic errors and suspicious constructs.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lint_(software)

Quarto YAML Intelligence

RStudio + VSCode provide rich tab-completion - start a word and tab to complete, or Ctrl + space to see all available options.

My turn: A tour of Quarto (once again)

Sit back and enjoy!

10:00

List of valid YAML fields

• Many YAML fields are common across various outputs

• But also each output type has its own set of valid YAML fields and options

• Definitive list: quarto.org/docs/reference/formats/html

Text (in Markdown)

Text Formatting

Markdown Syntax	Output
*italics* and **bold**	italics and bold
superscript^2^ / subscript~2~	superscript2 / subscript2
~~strikethrough~~	strikethrough
`verbatim code`	verbatim code

Headings

Markdown Syntax	Output
# Header 1	Header 1
## Header 2	Header 2
### Header 3	Header 3
#### Header 4	Header 4
##### Header 5	Header 5
###### Header 6	Header 6

Links

There are several types of “links” or hyperlinks.

Markdown

You can embed [named hyperlinks](https://quarto.org/),
direct urls like <https://quarto.org/>. The syntax is similar for embedding an
inline image: 
![Penguins playing with ball](img/lec-08/penguins-quarto-ball.png).

Output

You can embed named hyperlinks, direct urls like https://quarto.org/. The syntax is similar for embedding an inline image: .

Lists

Unordered list:

Markdown:

-   unordered list         
    -   sub-item 1         
    -   sub-item 1         
        -   sub-sub-item 1 

Output

• unordered list
  • sub-item 1
    
  • sub-item 1
    • sub-sub-item 1

Ordered list:

Markdown:

1. ordered list            
2. item 2                  
    i. sub-item 1          
         A.  sub-sub-item 1

Output

1. ordered list
   
2. item 2
   1. sub-item 1
      1. sub-sub-item 1

Quotes

Markdown:

> Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs: Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do. 
> - Donald Knuth, Literate Programming

Output:

Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs: Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do. - Donald Knuth, Literate Programming

Knuth (1984)

Your turn: md-08-exercises

1. Open posit.cloud in your browser (use your bookmark).
2. Open the ds4owd workspace for the course.
3. Click Start next to md-08-exercises.
4. In the File Manager in the bottom right window, locate the md-08-markdown-syntax.qmd file and click on it to open it in the top left window.
5. Use the source editor mode
6. Follow the instructions in the document, then exchange one new thing you’ve learned with your neighbor.

15:00

Take a break

Please get up and move! Let your emails rest in peace.

10:00

Anatomy of a Quarto scholarly article

Components

1. Metadata: YAML

2. Text: Markdown

3. Code: Executed via knitr or jupyter

Weave it all together, and you have a beautiful, reproducible journal article!

Scholarly writing - four terms

• Citation
• Reference
• Bibliography
• Citation Style Language (CSL)

What’s a Citation?

• Inequality underpins waste management systems, structuring who can or cannot access services (Kalina et al., 2023).
• Many visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services (Tilley & Kalina, 2021).
• In Tilley & Kalina (2021), the authors describe how visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services.

Explanation A citation is a reference to the source of information used in your research. Any time you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize the essential elements of someone else’s idea in your work, an in-text citation should follow. For example, in APA style, a citation might look like this: (Tilley and Kalina, 2021).

Analogy Think of a citation as a signpost on a road trip. It tells you where the information came from and points you in the direction of the full details (the destination), which can be found in the reference list.

What’s a Citation?

• Inequality underpins waste management systems, structuring who can or cannot access services (Kalina et al., 2023).
• Many visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services (Tilley & Kalina, 2021).
• In Tilley & Kalina (2021), the authors describe how visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services.

Important: The period is after the citation.

What’s a Reference?

• detailed description of the source of information
• author’s name, title, year of publication, publisher, DOI, etc.

Tilley, E., & Kalina, M. (2021). “My flight arrives at 5 am, can you pick me up?”: The gatekeeping burden of the african academic. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 33(4), 538–548. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000493677

Explanation

A reference is a detailed description of the source of information that you want to give credit to via a citation. In APA style, a reference provides comprehensive details about a source, including the author’s name, the title of the source, the year of publication, and the publisher or URL.

Analogy

A reference is like a detailed map at the end of your road trip (paper). It provides all the details about the source (destination) that the citation (signpost) pointed to.

What’s a Bibliography?

• list of references in a research paper or project
• includes all sources used, whether they were directly quoted or not
• listed alphabetically by the author’s last name in the reference list

References

Kalina, M., Makwetu, N., & Tilley, E. (2023). “The rich will always be able to dispose of their waste”: A view from the frontlines of municipal failure in Makhanda, South Africa. Environment, Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03363-1

Knuth, D. E. (1984). Literate Programming. The Computer Journal, 27(2), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/27.2.97

Tilley, E., & Kalina, M. (2021). “My flight arrives at 5 am, can you pick me up?”: The gatekeeping burden of the african academic. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 33(4), 538–548. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000493677

What’s the Citation Style Language (CSL)?

• It’s what your citation and generated bibliography look like
• APA (American Psychological Association) Style, Chicago Style, IEEE Style, Vancouver Style, etc. (over 10,000 styles in Zotero Style Repository)

The Citation Style Language (CSL) describes the formatting of citations, notes, and bibliographies. It was created to provide an open format that can be used by any application

What’s the Citation Style Language (CSL)?

author-date: Many visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services (Tilley & Kalina, 2021).

numeric Many visitors still expect a personal pick-up, despite the availability of taxi services [1].

Why use a reference management tool?

Managing references manually:

• is a lot of work
• is prone to mistakes
• makes you lose track

Why use Zotero?

• free
• open source: developed in public
• transparent about access to your own data
• cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• collaboration in groups
• integration with word processors

Mendeley

1. Mendeley is owned by Elsevier.
2. It encrypts your database and makes money with your data
3. You can only collaborate with 3 people on one project.

EndNote

1. EndNote doesn’t come free, you need to buy a license.
2. They also used a prioprietary citation style files that could only be opened by EndNote.

Zotero setup guide

• Not teaching how to use Zotero, but encourage you to learn and use it.
• Prepared a setup guide: <https://ds4owd-002.github.io/website//guide/#zotero-reference-management>

Scholarly Articles in Quarto

Quarto supports

• a standardized schema for authors and affiliations that can be expressed once int the source document,

• the use of Citation Style Language (CSL) to automate the formatting of citations and bibliographies, and

• outputting to pdf, html, and docx with custom formatting,

according to the styles required for various journals,

and creating the LaTeX required for submission to multiple journals.

Front matter

Quarto provides a rich set of YAML metadata keys to describe the details required in the front matter of scholarly articles.

• title
• author
• affiliation
• abstract
• keywords
• citation
• licensing
• etc.

Our turn: md-08-exercises

1. Open posit.cloud in your browser (use your bookmark).
2. Open the ds4owd workspace for the course.
3. Open md-08-exercises.
4. In the File Manager in the bottom right window, locate the scholarly-writing.qmd file and click on it to open it in the top left window.
5. Follow along on the screen using the instructions in the document.

15:00

Publishing

Our turn: md-08-publish-USERNAME

Clone the repository from GitHub

1. Open github.com in your browser and navigate to the GitHub organisation for the course: https://github.com/ds4owd-002.
2. Find the repository md-08-publish-USERNAME that ends with your GitHub username, and open it.
3. Click on the green “Code” button.
4. Copy the HTTPS URL to your clipboard.
5. Open the ds4owd workspace on posit.cloud
6. Click New Project > New Project from Git Repository
7. Paste the HTTPS URL from GitHub into the “URL of your Git Repository” field.
8. Wait until the project is deployed.
9. From the Files Manager in the bottom right window, open docs folder, then click on index.qmd.
10. Indicate the open Poll with “ready to go” when you are ready.

20:00

GitHub Pages

• GitHub Pages is a free service for hosting static websites. It is ideal for blogs, course or project websites, books, presentations, and personal hobby sites.

Minimal Example - Requirements

• Landing site needs to be stored as index.qmd
• The index.qmd needs to be stored in docs folder
• Example works well for a report/article as a stand-alone page
• Quarto provides a framework and examples for more complex websites: https://quarto.org/docs/websites/

Course Guide

• Steps for publishing the capstone project report are described in course guide
• <https://ds4owd-002.github.io/website//guide/#publish-to-github-pages>

Take a break

Please get up and move! Let your emails rest in peace.

10:00

Capstone project

Course certificate

• You will receive a course certificate if you complete the capstone project.
• The course certificate will be issued by the openwashdata academy.
• The certificate will highlight the time you have invested and the tools you learned to navigate.
• The certificate can include a link to your public capstone project report (voluntary).
• We would like to add a graduates section to https://openwashdata.org/ and highlight course graduates (e.g. link to report, GitHub profile, LinkedIn profile, ORCID profile)

Submission

• The submission due date is: Wednesday, 4th December 2025.
• You will need to work through Module 5 & Module 7 homework assignments to get started.
• We will use the GitHub issue tracker to communicate and ask questions about the capstone project.
• A list of required items for submission is covered on the course website: <https://ds4owd-002.github.io/website//project/>
• If you require an extension, please reach to us via email: ghe@mavt.ethz.ch

Your turn: Capstone project - Read and take notes

1. Open: <https://ds4owd-002.github.io/website//project/>.
2. Read through the page.
3. For the list in “Required items” note down the numbers of those that are unclear to you and why.
4. After the time is up, you will join a break-out room and discuss the unclear items with your peers.

10:00

Your turn: Capstone project - Discuss unclear items

1. Join the break-out room.
2. Discuss with your peers the unclear items you noted down.

10:00

Your turn: Capstone project - Share remaining unclear items

1. Open this repository: <https://github.com/ds4owd-002/project>.
2. Add your questions for unclear items to the issue tracker as described.

10:00

Wrap-up

Homework assignment

• No more homework assignments
• Use the time to work on your capstone project

Student hours

• Every Friday, 2:00 to 3:30 PM (CET)
• Final student hours: Friday, November 29, 2:00 to 3:30 PM (CET)

Module 09: Using AI for software development in R

• Date: Thursday, November 20, 2:00 - 4:30 PM (CET)

Module 10: Graduation party

• Date: Tuesday, February 20, 2:00 - 3:00 PM (CET)

Attribution

Content was re-used from a workshop hosted by Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel at the 2025 Symposium on Data Science and Statistics and stored at https://github.com/mine-cetinkaya-rundel/quarto-sdss. The original content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Thanks! 🌻

Slides created via revealjs and Quarto: https://quarto.org/docs/presentations/revealjs/ Access slides as PDF on GitHub