RLA Comprehensive Metadata Guide
RLA Information Model describes the types of information or data objects that RLA captures and makes them discoverable. This section provides recommendations for the optimal properties required per data object.
RLA minimum metadata specify properties for satisfying RLA functionality, however, richer metadata provides more description and context of a data object and consequently increases usability of the metadata by users both human and machine. This section provides common properties for each group of data objects. A great number of metadata-related standards or schemas have been developed for each of the data objects. Here, we refer to standards or schemas required for allocating a persistent identifier. When creating or ingesting rich metadata to RLA, data providers can refer to this section or relevant standards that are cited in this section.
Properties are marked as M (Mandatory), R (Recommended) and O (Operational) in the Obligation column. Note that the referenced schemas/profiles may have requirements different from the RLA’s, the marked obligation is based on the RLA requirement.
Table 1: Property for Research Input and Output (e.g. publication, dataset, report) (reference DataCite schema 4.5, follow the link for detailed description and markup guides of each properties) | ||||
Property | ExpectedType | Definition | Obligation | RLA index |
dcite:ResourceType | Container for dcite:ResourceTypeGeneral | The specific type of a data object. | M (1) | |
dcite:resourceTypeGeneral | Value from a Controlled list [JournalArticle | ConferencePaper | Report | |Report | instrument |Instrument | … ] | The general type of a data object | M (1) | Y |
dcite:Identifier | String (DOI) | Primary identifier of a data object, e.g. DOI (10.21384/foo) | M (1) | Y |
dcite:Contributor (dcite:contributorType, dcite:contributorName,dcite:nameIdentifer,dcite:affiliation) | Prefer ORCID for person, RoR for organisation | The institution or person responsible for collecting, managing, distributing, or otherwise contributing to the development of the resource (See Table 3: Properties for person) | M (1-n) | Y (author) |
dcite:Title | Free text | A name or title by which a resource is known | M (1) | Y |
dcite:Publisher | Prefer identifiers, e.g. ROR, ISNI | The name of the entity that holds, archives, publishes, prints, distributes, releases, issues, or produces the resource. | M (1) | Y |
dcite:PublicationYear | YYYY | The year when the data was or will be made publicly available | M (1) | Y |
dcite:Description | Free text | A description of the data, e.g. abstract (publication), technicalInfo (for instruments) | M (1) | Y (abstract) |
dcite:Subject | Free text, or from available and suitable classification schemas (e.g. ANZSRC FoR, ANZSRC SEO, etc) | Subject, keyword, classification code, or key phrase describing the resource | R (0-n) | Y |
dcite:AlternateIdentifier | Free text (e.g. local access identifier, E-GEOD-34910) | An identifier other than the primary Identifier applied to the data being registered. The AlternateIdentifier should be an additional identifier for the same instance of the data. | R | |
dcite:RelatedIdentifer | Identifier (depending on the data type, could be DOI, Handle, URL, etc.) | Identifiers of related resources (e.g. publication to dataset, publication to patent). These must be globally unique identifiers | O | |
dcite:FundingReference | Wrapper property containing metadata describing funding source | Information about financial support (funding) for the resource being registered. (if the work leading to the input/output has funded by a funder) | R (0-n) | Y |
dcite:funderName | Text - Prefer Crossref Funder ID (OFR) | Name of the funding provider | M (1) (if FundingReference is used) | Y |
dcite:funderIdentifier | Identifier (e.g. ROR, FunderID) | Uniquely identifies a funding entity | R (1) | Y |
dcite:funderIdentifierType | Controlled list values from FunderID, GRID, ISNI, FOR, other) | The type of the funderIdentifier | R (1) | Y |
dcite:schemeURI | URL | The URI of the funder identifier scheme (e.g. ARC discovery scheme) | O (0-1) | Y |
dcite:awardNumber | Text (e.g. LP170100881) | The code assigned by the funder to a sponsored award (grant). | R (0-1) | Y |
dcite:awardURI | URI (e.g. https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/LP170100881 ) | The URI leading to a page provided by the funder for more information about the award (grant) | R (0-1) | Y |
dcite:awardTitle | text | Title of the award | R (0-1) | Y |
Table 2: Property of organisation, funder (reference Research Organisation Registry (ROR) schema, ABR, Open Funder Registry) | ||||
Property | ExpectedType | Definition | Obligation (Occurrence) | RLA index |
dcite:resourceType | Value from a controlled list | This resource type is Organisation or Funder | M (1) | Y |
ror:types | Array | Organisation type | M (1) | |
ror:Identifier | String | Primary identifier of the organisation (e.g. ROR, FoundID, ABN, ACN) | M (1) | Y |
ror:name | String | The primary name of the organisation | M (1) | |
ror:established | YYYY | Year the organisation was established | R (0-1) | Y |
ror:relationships | Array (Allowed relationship types: Parent, Child, Related, Predecessor, Successor) | Related organisation in ROR (e.g. a school, or a disciplinary group of a university) | O (0-n) | Y |
ror:addresses | Array | The organisation’s location | R (0-1) | Y (locations) |
ror:links | Array (of URL) | Official website of the organisation | M (1-n) | |
ror:aliases | Array | Other names of the organisation is known by | O (0-n) | |
ror:acronyms | Array | Acronyms or initisms for the organisation name | O (0-n) | |
ror:status | String | Whether the organisation is active or not | R (0-1) | Y |
rof:wikipedia_url | String | Wikipedia link for the organisation | O (0-1) | |
ror:country | Object | Country where organisation is located | R (0-1) | |
ror:external_ids | Array (Allowed external IDs: Crossref Funder ID (FundRef), ISNI, Wikidata. Other external IDs not actively curated include GRID, OrgRef, HESA, UCAS, UKPRN, CNRS) | Other identifiers for the organisation | R (0-n) | |
abr:Industry type | Choice from a controlled list | industry type information (from 2022, ABN holders can register up to 4 additional ANZSIC codes) | R (0-n) | |
abr:Contact details Email | string | Email address | O (0-n) | |
abr:Contact details (ABS) phone number | number | Contact phone number | O (0-n) | |
ror:last_modified | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) | The date the record is updated | R (0-1) | Y (admin.last_modified.date) |
Table 3: Property of People (e.g. researcher, innovator, facilitator) (reference http://schema.org (s), ORCID (o), etc) | ||||
Property | ExpectedType | Definition | Obligation | RLA index |
s:ResourceType | Person | This resource type is Person | M (1) | Y |
s:Identifier | PropertyValue or Text or URL | The primary identifier for the Person (e.g. ORCID, Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, Google Scholar Author Profile) | M (1) | Y |
o:external-identifiers | Other identifiers other than the primary identifiers (e.g. ORCID, Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, Google Scholar Author Profile) | R (0-n) | Y | |
s:family Name | Text | The last name of a Person | M (1) | Y |
s:givenName | Text | The first name of a Person | M (1) | Y |
s:additionalName | Text | An additional name for a Person, can be used for a middle name. | O (0-1) | |
o:otherName | Text | other names the researcher may be known by | O (0-1) | |
s:jobTitle | DefinedTerm or Text | The job title of the person (for example, Senior Lecturer, Chief Technology Officer) | O (0-n) | Y |
S:description o:biograph | text | description/biograph of the person | O (0-n) | |
S:affiliation O:organisation | Text (prefer RoR or other identifiers) | An organisation that this person is affiliated with. For example, a school/university, a company | M (1-n) | Y |
s:URL | URL | Webpages about the Person (e.g. university profile page, linked-in profile) | o(0-n) | |
s:address | PostalAddress or Text | Physical address of the Person | R (0-1) | |
dcite:Subject | Text (preferred values from standard R&D classification schemas (e.g. ANZSRC FoR, ANZSRC SEO, etc) | Words or phrases describing the person’s R&D areas | R (0-n) | Y |
o:fundings | Array (identifiers of fundings, e.g. DOI, grant ID, etc) | Grants the person received (See Table 5) | R (0-n) | Y |
o:work | Prefer identifiers | Research outputs (e.g. publication and dataset) of the person | R (0-n) | Y |
raid:projects | Array (identifiers of research activities, e.g. RAiD) | Research activities (See Table 4) | R (0-n) | Y |
Property | ExpectedType | Definition | Obligation | RLA index |
datacite:resourceType | “Project” | This resource type Project | M (1) | |
raid:identifier | Identifiers (e.g. DOI) | A unique string identifier expressed as an actionable URL | M (1) | Y |
raid:date.startDate | ISO 8601 standard date | the project or activity’s start date | M (1) | Y |
raid:date.endDate | ISO 8601 standard date | the project or activity’s end date | M (1) | Y |
raid:title | text | a name or title by which the project or activity is known | M (1) | Y |
raid:description | text | a project description that may include any additional information that does not fit in the other categories | R (0-n) | Y |
Raid:contributor | Name (prefer identifier, e.g. ORCID) | the contributor (person) associated with a project or grant identified by a persistent identifier | M (1-n) | Y |
raid:subject | Closed controlled list of URIs (ANZSRC-2020) | Subject area | R (0-n) | Y |
Raid:organisation (Figure 1: R6) | Container for organisation information | organisations associated with the project | M (1-n) | |
raid:organisation.id | Closed controlled list | identifiers for each associated organisations (e.g. ROR, ABN, ACN) | M (1-n) | Y |
raid:Organisation role | A value from closed controlled list | an organisation’s role on a project | R (0-1) (if organisation is used) | Y |
raid:relatedObject | Text (preferred Identifier) | inputs, outputs, and process documents related to the project | O (0-n) | Y |
raid:alternateIdentifier | Identifiers (e.g. DOI) | alternative local or global identifiers of project | O (0-n) | Y |
raid:alternateURL | URL | alternative URLs for the project | O (0-n) | Y |
dcite:FundingReference | See Table 1 | If the project is funded or partially funded by a funding body | Y | |
Table 5: Property for Grant (reference Crossref Grants markup guide (cf)) | ||||
Property | ExpectedType | Definition | Obligation | RLA index |
dcite:resourceType | “Grant” | This resource type “Grant” | M (1) | |
cf:identifier | DOI | Global identifier of the grant | Y | |
raid:alternateIdentifier | text | alternative local or global identifiers of the grant | O (0-n) | Y |
raid:alternateURL | URL | alternative URLs for the grant | O (0-n) | Y |
cf:project | Container | Grant metadata by default includes a single or multiple projects | M(1) - for describing a grant only | |
cf:project-title | text | Title of a project funded by the grant being registered | M(1-n) | Y |
cf:project-description | text | abstract or description of a project | R (1-n) | Y |
dcite:Subject | Controlled vocab | Prefer from controlled vocab, e.g. FoR, SEO | R (1-n) | Y |
cf:start-date | Date | Date a grant starts | R(1) | Y |
cf:end-date | Date | Date a grant ends | R(1) | Y |
cf:investigators | container for investigator information | Grant recipient(s) | M(1-n) | Y |
cf:person | container for individual investigator details | M(1-n) | Y | |
cf:role | available roles are lead_investigator, co-lead_investigator, investigator | R(1) | ||
dcite:identifier | Identifier expressed as a URL (e.g. ORCID, …) | Identifier that identifies an investigator | R(0-n) | Y |
s:url | URL | Webpages about an investigator (e.g. university profile page, linked-in profile) | R(0-n) | Y |
cf:givenName | text | Given or first name | R(0-1) | Y |
cf:familyName | text | Family or surname | R(0-1) | Y |
cf:alternateName | text | Alias or nickname | R(0-n) | |
cf:affiliation | Container for affiliation information | R (0-n) | ||
cf:institution | Prefer RoR | Institution an investigator is affiliated with when associated with the grant/project being defined. | R(1) | Y |
cf:country | ISO 3166-1 alpha 2-letter country code | location (country) of affiliation | O | Y |
cf:award-amount | number | Total overall amount awarded | M(1) | Y (funding_amount) |
dcite:FundingReference | See Table 1 | Y (funder) | ||
last_updated | Y | |||