When a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is registered, if you supply robust descriptive metadata along with the DOI, you can make the resource more discoverable and, therefore, more citable. Persistent links to people, places, funders, and other scholarly resources link the DOI-identified resource into an increasingly interconnected scholarly communication eco-system. DataCite DOIs can link to:
- scholars and fellow contributors, via their ORCID identifiers
- funders, via their FundRef identifiers
- other sources and resources, via their persistent identifiers
- locations, via their World Geodetic System (WGS) coordinates
The DataCite Metadata Schema documentation describes in detail how to do each of these, giving examples. In this regard, the DataCite Metadata Working Group is happy to announce two small but significant updates to the documentation:
- more guidance on how to use the FundRef identifier in the Contributor property (by selecting contributorType="Funder" and then supplying the nameIdentifierType for that ContributorName)
- guidance on how to use ORCID-compatible resourceType terms for text resources by choosing a term from the CASRAI Publications resource type list
As before, the Metadata Schema continues to support ORCID and other name identifiers for Creator and Contributor names. In addition, there are 21 different relationships that can be used to establish connections to external records of one type or another, using a RelatedIdentifier. And, the Version 3.0 release introduced the new GeoLocation property allowing the addition of place information.
The Metadata Working Group continues to consider suggestions from DataCite clients and the data citation community, so if you would like to contact us with any comments, questions or ideas, please visit our discussion forum.