As DataCite continually works to support our growing community, updating the DataCite Metadata Schema to better represent community use cases supports our goals of driving metadata quality and completeness.
Today, we’re excited to share the release of DataCite Metadata Schema 4.6, which expands the resourceTypeGeneral, relatedIdentifierType, relationType, contributorType, and dateType controlled lists in response to community feedback. We also updated the documentation to clarify allowed values for language codes. Everything is described in the Version Update notes in the documentation, available through the web and in PDF format.
Supporting DOIs for Projects
To enhance discoverability and tracking of research projects, Schema 4.6 adds a new resourceTypeGeneral value for “Project”. This update makes it possible for organizations registering DOIs for Projects, including the RAiD Consortium, to use a dedicated resourceTypeGeneral value more specific than “Text” or “Other”. All Project DOIs can be explored in DataCite Commons, where dashboards are available to visualize project outputs and research contributions.
Supporting DOIs for Awards
Earlier this year, we worked with pilot organizations on metadata mapping and developed guidelines for registering DataCite DOIs for awards. To better surface these awards and improve their discoverability, we are now introducing a dedicated resourceTypeGeneral value for “Award” as an umbrella term for funding, grants, scholarships, and other types of awards.
Enabling Connections to RRIDs and CSTR Identifiers
To support interoperability among persistent identifiers, Schema 4.6 adds support for RRIDs (Research Resource IDentifiers) and CSTR (Common Science and Technology Resources) Identifiers to the relatedIdentifierType vocabulary:
- RRIDs are used to uniquely identify key inputs to an experiment, particularly biological resources, and related tools such as core facilities and databases.
- CSTR Identifiers are widely used in China for scientific and technical resources.
This expansion strengthens DataCite’s support for connection metadata, enabling researchers to link related resources within their metadata seamlessly.
Representing Translations and Crediting Translators
With Schema 4.6, DataCite introduces a way to credit translators by updating the contributorType controlled list to include “Translator”. This addition acknowledges the importance of translation contributions. For connecting translations, we have also added a new relationType pair to the controlled list: “IsTranslationOf” and “HasTranslation”. These terms clarify relationships between original and translated resources.
Indicating Temporal Coverage
A new dateType, “Coverage”, has been added to allow for temporal coverage information to be included in the Date property—either as a single date or a date range. This improves interoperability with Schema.org, where we can now map to its temporalCoverage property.
Clarifying Allowed Values for Language Codes
Finally, to help clarify what values are allowed for the Language property (and the xml:lang attribute), we revised the documentation to more accurately describe what values are accepted as language codes (the syntax of which is defined by the XML schema). We also added a footnote referencing the W3C guidance on Choosing a Language Tag, which we recommend you to look at.
Get started with Schema 4.6
These updates—designed by the Metadata Working Group in coordination with DataCite Staff—reflect DataCite’s ongoing commitment to providing robust metadata options that support community needs.
Ready to start using Schema 4.6? DataCite provides resources, documentation, and support to help community members integrate these updates into their workflows. On the Metadata Schema website, the DataCite Metadata Schema 4.6 page includes links to the documentation alongside new example records. Our REST API Reference has also been updated with the new controlled list values. You can use these new additions both for new DOI registrations and to update metadata for existing DOIs.
If you have any questions or feedback about the Schema 4.6 updates, please get in touch with us at support@datacite.org.
Kelly Stathis
Cody Ross
Ashwini Sukale
Kudakwashe Siziva
