How to cite Seafarer Index

Seafarer Index is a free, open-data reference for working seafarers, cadets, crewing managers, P&I clubs, flag administrations, journalists, and academics. The site and its underlying datasets are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Citing us is appreciated but legally required only when you redistribute or substantially adapt the data.

Site citation

Use one of the strings below. Copy-paste verbatim.

Seafarer Index. (2026). Seafarer Index — practical reference for working seafarers and cadets. https://seafarerindex.com

Seafarer Index. 2026. "Seafarer Index — practical reference for working seafarers and cadets." Accessed 2026-10-27. https://seafarerindex.com.

"Seafarer Index — Practical Reference for Working Seafarers and Cadets." Seafarer Index, 2026, https://seafarerindex.com. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Seafarer Index. https://seafarerindex.com [accessed 2026-10-27].

@misc{seafarerindex2026,
  title        = {Seafarer Index --- practical reference for working seafarers and cadets},
  author       = {{Seafarer Index}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://seafarerindex.com},
  urldate      = {2026-10-27},
  note         = {Open data under CC BY 4.0}
}

Citing a specific page

Most pages carry a last-updated date in the footer (e.g. on this page). Cite the page's canonical URL with that date. For example, citing the COLREGs reference page:

Seafarer Index. (2026). COLREGs — index of Rules 1–38 by part. https://seafarerindex.com/reference/colregs

Citing the dataset

Every dataset is downloadable as JSON from /data. The endpoints are stable URLs with daily-updated content. Under CC BY 4.0 you may redistribute, transform, and build upon the data — including commercially — provided you give attribution.

Contains data from Seafarer Index (https://seafarerindex.com), used under CC BY 4.0.

@dataset{seafarerindex_dataset_2026,
  title        = {Seafarer Index open datasets},
  author       = {{Seafarer Index}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://seafarerindex.com/data},
  license      = {CC BY 4.0},
  note         = {Ports, ships, flag states, certifications, helplines, manning agencies, training centres, port-extras, glossary}
}

Programmatic access

The data dump endpoints serve application/json with permissive CORS and a daily revalidation window. Each response includes X-License: CC-BY-4.0 and X-Source: seafarerindex.com headers.

curl -H "Accept: application/json" https://seafarerindex.com/api/data/flags

Source verification

Our compilation method, primary sources, and data limitations are documented at /sources. Where a page references a specific convention, regulation, or court ruling we cite the IMO/ILO instrument identifier and the IMO Marine Information Service (IMS) circular number where applicable.

Press & institutional links

Journalists, academics, and institutions writing about specific topics can find the canonical link targets at /press. The /changelog RSS feed (Atom 1.0 at /changelog/rss.xml) notifies subscribers of dataset updates.

Contact

For corrections, data partnerships, or factual disputes, use the "Report an error" link at the foot of every page, or open an issue at github.com/bryanflowers/seafarerindex.