FORCE11 Software Citation Principles 1 Mapping

FORCE11 requirements:

Table 6: FORCE11 Software Citation Principles to DataCite Mapping

Table 6: FORCE11 Software Citation Principles to DataCite Mapping

FORCE11 requirement	DataCite v. 4.1	Comments
Unique identifier – recommend a DOI	1. Identifier with 1.a identifierType “DOI”	For software a decision may need to be made about whether the ID is for a specific version of a piece of software (recommended by FORCE11 Software Citation Principles), for a piece of software (i.e. all versions), or for the latest version.
Software name	3. Title	May be the title of a dataset or the name of a piece of software.
Author	2. Creator	May include those responsible for software creation.
Contributor	7. Contributor	For software, if there is an alternate entity that “holds, archives, publishes, prints, distributes, releases, issues, or produces the code, use the 7.a contributorType HostingInstitution for the code repository.
Contributor role	7.a contributorType	See Definition in contributorType Appendix: Distributor: Includes distribution of software. See Example for HostingInstitution: Includes software or run code repositories.
Version number	15. Version	See Version example: Software engineering practice follows this approach of tracking changes and giving new version numbers.
Release date	5. PublicationYear	See definition: In the case of resources such as software where there may be multiple releases in one year, other DataCite metadata or information such as the landing page should enable users to identify the newest one.
Location/repository	4. Publisher 7. Contributor with 7.a contributorType HostingInstitution	For software, use 4. Publisher for Code Repository, following the data model. If there is an alternate entity that “holds, archives, publishes, prints, distributes, releases, issues, or produces” the code, use the 7.a contributorType HostingInstitution for the code repository.”
Indexed citations (and links between software versions)	12. RelatedIdentifier with 12.b relationType	RelationTypes applicable to software.
	HasVersion, IsVersionOf	HasVersion: The registered resource such as a software package or code repository has a versioned instance (indicates A has the instance B). It may, e.g., be used to relate an un- versioned code repository to one of its specific software versions. IsVersionOf: The registered resource is an instance of a target resource (indicates that A is an instance of B). It may, e.g., be used to relate a specific version of a software package to its software code repository.
	IsNewVersionOf, IsPreviousVersionOf	IsNewVersionOf: Can be used for “edition or software release etc.” IsPreviousVersionOf: Can be used for “edition or software release etc.”
	IsDerivedFrom, IsSourceOf	IsDerivedFrom and IsSourceOf: Can be used to denote software that is a fork of other software or is the origin of a fork.
	IsPartOf, HasPart	IsPartOf and HasPart: May be used for individual software modules.
	IsDocumentedBy, Documents	IsDocumentedBy and Documents: Points to software documentation.
	IsVariantFormOf, IsOriginalFormOf	IsVariantFormOf and IsOriginalFormOf: May be used for different software operating systems or compiler formats, for example. Indicates that A is a variant or different form or packaging of B.
	IsRequiredBy, Requires	IsRequiredBy: The registered resource A is called by or is required by software resource B. Requires: The registered resource A calls or requires software resource B.
Software licenses	16. Rights	See example: May be used for software licenses.
Description	17. Description 17. Description with 17.a descriptionType: TechnicalInfo 17. Description with 17.a descriptionType: Abstract	TechnicalInfo: For software description, this may include a readme.text, and necessary environmental information (hardware, operational software, applications/programs) that cannot be described using other properties such as ‘Format/version’ or ‘Description/summary’.
Keywords	6. Subject	Existing guidance applies: Subject, keyword, classification code, or key phrase describing the resource.

Footnotes

1: Smith AM, Katz DS, Niemeyer KE, FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group. (2016) Software citation principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e86 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.86