DataCite Metadata Schema Documentation for the Publication and Citation of Research Data and Other Research Outputs

Note

DataCite Metadata Working Group. (2026). DataCite Metadata Schema for the Publication and Citation of Research Data and Other Research Outputs. Version 4.7. DataCite e.V. https://doi.org/10.14454/qdd3-ps68

Contributors from the DataCite Metadata Working Group:

• Matthias Liffers, Australian Research Data Commons (co-chair of working group)

• Wendy Robertson, University of Iowa (co-chair of working group)

• Jan Ashton, British Library

• Isabel Bernal, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

• Anusuriya Devaraju, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

• Kirsten Elger, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

• Ted Habermann, Metadata Game Changers

• Melissa Harrison, EMBL-EBI

• Robin Kraus, TIB Hannover

• Ian Mathews, Redivis

• Andrea Medina-Smith, Sage Data

• Adam Vials Moore, Jisc

• Joseph Padfield, The National Gallery

• Anne Raugh, University of Maryland

• Mike Shallcross, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

• Dorothea Strecker, Berlin School of Library and Information Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

• Nicola Tarocco, CERN

• Peyton Tvrdy, National Transportation Library, United States Department of Transportation

• Hana Vyčítalová, National Library of Technology (Czech Republic)

• Kelly Stathis, DataCite

• Sara El-Gebali, DataCite

Contents

• Introduction
  • About the DataCite Metadata Schema
  • Version 4.7 Update
  • Citation
• DataCite Metadata Properties
  • Overview
  • 1. Identifier
  • 2. Creator
  • 3. Title
  • 4. Publisher
  • 5. PublicationYear
  • 6. Subject
  • 7. Contributor
  • 8. Date
  • 9. Language
  • 10. ResourceType
  • 11. AlternateIdentifier
  • 12. RelatedIdentifier
  • 13. Size
  • 14. Format
  • 15. Version
  • 16. Rights
  • 17. Description
  • 18. GeoLocation
  • 19. FundingReference
  • 20. RelatedItem
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Controlled List Definitions
    • contributorType
    • dateType
    • resourceTypeGeneral
    • relatedIdentifierType
    • relationType
    • descriptionType
  • Appendix 2: Earlier Version Update Notes
  • Appendix 3: Standard values for unknown information
• Mappings
  • DataCite to Dublin Core Mapping
    • DataCite to Dublin Core Qualified Mapping
    • DataCite - Dublin Core local extension
  • FORCE11 Software Citation Principles Mapping
  • PIDINST Schema Mapping
• Guidance
  • Citation of dynamic datasets
  • Support for software citation
  • Using RelatedItem for publication information and related resources
• Schema and Examples