RIF-CS 1.6.2 Changes (2017)

^{23 November 2017}

The RIF-CS Advisory Board recently approved a number of changes to the RIF-CS Schema. These changes are now represented in a new minor version: 1.6.2.

Points to note

1. No structural changes to the schema will be introduced with v1.6.2. Changes affect vocabulary terms only. All changes are optional. There are no backwards compatibility issues.
2. This information provides advance notice of approved changes.
3. ANDS systems and support materials will be updated to support the new version of the schema in December.

Changes from 1.6.1 to 1.6.2

Addition of IGSN, GRID, ScopusID, ISNI and RAiD as identifier types

• igsn: International Geo Sample Number
• isni: International Standard Name Identifier
• grid: Global Research Identifier Database
• scopusID: a unique author identifier provided by the  Scopus publications  database
• raid: Research Activity Identifier

Components affected: 

• identifer/@type
• relatedInfo/identifier/@type
• citationInfo/citationMetadata/identifier/@type

Driver: These five global identifier schemes – IGSN, ISNI, GRID, Scopus ID and RAiD – are becoming more frequently used in records describing and linking research data. However, because these are not listed as identifier types in RIF-CS they have no special display in Research Data Australia (i.e. resolvable link). Further, RDA contributors who use these identifiers have no guidance as to how to include them in RIF-CS records they contribute to RDA. As a result, these identifiers are either not being included in RIF-CS records or they are being included in the wrong element.

Usage: Optional. Provide the relevant identifier type when describing or linking to research data, activity or organisation within RDA. RDA contributors who use these identifier types will be guided in how these are included in RIF-CS  (see Content Providers Guide (copied - 2023-06-20)).

Addition of PONT, SCOT, APT, PSYCHIT and ISO639 subject types

• pont: Powerhouse Museum Object Name Thesaurus
• scot: Schools Online Thesaurus
• apt: Australian Pictorial Thesaurus
• psychit:Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
• iso639: International Standard for language codes

Components affected: 

• subject@type

Driver: The identified subjects have been used by Research Data Australia Contributors and appear in the RDA Registry. To promote consistent usage, it would be beneficial to formally add these to the vocabulary.

Usage: Optional. Provide the relevant subject type when describing or linking to research data or activity within RDA. RDA contributors who use these subject types will be guided in how these are included in RIF-CS (see Content Providers Guide (copied - 2023-06-20)).

Simplification of RIF-CS identifier types

• consolidation of  three existing Identifier Type vocabularies into a single vocabulary for Identifiers (Note: no Identifier Types will be lost in the merge)
  • <identifier/@type>
  • <relatedInfo/identifier/@type>
  • <citationInfo/citationMetadata/identifier/@type>

Driver: The RIF-CS elements, <relatedInfo/identifier>, <identifier> and <citationInfo/citationMetadata/identifier/>, have separately defined vocabularies for Identifier Type. These vocabularies, however, are substantially overlapping thus, may confuse users and contributors. Simplification and/or consolidation of these identifier types will make it easier to manage and maintain the RIF-CS vocabulary.

Usage: RDA contributors will be guided in how the identifier types are used in RIF-CS (see Content Providers Guide (copied - 2023-06-20)).

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested.

For feedback or questions, please email  services@ands.org.au. Thank you.