Metadata enrichments
DataCite is developing community-driven DOI metadata enrichment processes as part of an ongoing, multi-faceted effort to improve the quality and utility of the DataCite metadata store and enhance discovery, reuse, and reporting across the research ecosystem.
Below, we use the terms "enriched DOI record" to refer to a DataCite DOI metadata record that has been enriched using one or more metadata enrichments and "enrichment record" to refer to a record that describes a change to DataCite DOI metadata.
Enrichment services are currently in development and are subject to change. Feedback on enrichment services is welcome via open Requests for Comment and at [email protected].
Where are metadata enrichments sourced from?
DataCite works with COMET (Collaborative Metadata) on enrichment projects. These projects produce metadata enrichments for DataCite DOIs, which complement the metadata submissions of original depositors.
Enrichments are then ingested into DataCite systems as a series of individual enrichment records. An enrichment record describes a change to DOI metadata and contains additional provenance information about how that change was produced. Enrichment records can be requested using the enrichments endpoint of the DataCite REST API.
Before being ingested by DataCite, each enrichment record is also checked against several indicators of validity. These include:
- Whether the enrichment record is structured as expected
- Whether the enrichment record contains key provenance metadata
- If the enrichment record is still relevant to the original DOI record in DataCite; i.e., if the original metadata targeted by the enrichment has changed since the enrichment record was created
- If the enrichment record, when applied to the original DOI record, produces a DataCite DOI record valid under the DataCite Metadata Schema
Enriched DOI records
When retrieving an enriched DOI record, the enrichment records associated with a given DOI are applied to the original DOI record, generating a separate, enriched DOI record. The original DOI record is not modified by this process in any way.
Enrichment records are not applied if targeted metadata fields are changed by the original depositor. The original DOI record is displayed in place of the enriched record if the enriched record is in any way invalid according to the DataCite Metadata Schema
How are enriched DOI records generated?
The image below visualizes the process that produces an enriched DOI record. The original DOI record, which is stored separately and is not modified by the following process, exists at the left. It contains a title that reads “Dataset”. The enrichment record in the center targets the “Dataset” title and updates it to a more descriptive and discoverable title. When the enrichment record is applied to the original DOI record, the outcome is an enriched DOI metadata record—stored and displayed separately from the original DOI record—with the enriched title.
Retrieve a single enriched DOI record
When retrieving a single DOI with the REST API, set the parameter enriched=true to retrieve an enriched DOI record. For example:
curl "https://api.datacite.org/dois/10.60692/44wdx-8kd18?affiliation=true&publisher=true&enriched=true"
What’s in the API response?
The response includes the enriched DOI metadata record in JSON format. The fields returned in a singleton response by default are also included.
The enrichment records associated with the DOI are listed in the relationships section of the response. If no enrichments are listed, then either no enrichment records are available for that DOI or the available enrichment records could not be used to successfully generate an enriched DOI record.
The list below provides a description of the additional relationships fields that appear when enriched=true:
relationships.enrichments
An array of enrichments as dictionaries.
relationships.enrichments.data.id
The identifier of the enrichment.
relationships.enrichments.data.type
Always "enrichments".
Notice a metadata issue?
Contact [email protected] to report any issues with the metadata in enriched DOI records. Metadata feedback helps DataCite improve COMET enrichment processes and supports DOI metadata precision across the research ecosystem.
Enrichment records
Enrichment records describe changes to DataCite DOI metadata, but they do not alter the original DOI metadata maintained by DataCite members. When combined with original DOI records, enrichment records can be used to generate separate, enriched DOI records.
Structure of enrichment records
Enrichment records have three core pieces of information:
- The DOI on which the enrichment is asserting a change
- The provenance of the enrichment, i.e., the contributors and resources that produced the enrichment record
- The enrichment action, i.e., the change the enrichment asserts to the DOI’s original metadata
Enrichment record fields
Each field of an enrichment record is described below:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| doi | The target DOI of the enrichment record. |
| contributors | Provenance information describing the source entities of the enrichment represented as an array of contributors. |
| resources | Provenance information referring to resources about the enrichment method, such as project documentation and related datasets, represented as an array of relatedIdentifiers. |
| field | The top-level metadata field to enrich, e.g., creators, relatedIdentifiers, types, etc. |
| action | The action that the enrichment performs. The available actions are: update (change the entire top-level "field" from the "originalValue" to the "enrichedValue") updateChild (change a child object within the top-level "field" from the "originalValue" to the "enrichedValue") insert (insert the object in "enrichedValue" into the top-level "field") deleteChild (remove the object in "originalValue" within the top-level field specified in "field") |
| originalValue | When the action is update, updateChild, or deleteChild: the original value of the field or the child value to be replaced with the enrichedValue. Otherwise, this field is empty. |
| enrichedValue | When the action is update, updateChild, or insert: the enriched value of the field or child value. Otherwise, this field is empty. |
Retrieve enrichment records
Retrieve a list of enrichments
Retrieve a list of enrichments via a GET request to https://api.datacite.org/enrichments with optional parameters:
curl https://api.datacite.org/enrichments
Parameters
The enrichments endpoint supports filter parameters that refine the list of results. These include the following filters:
| Filter | Example values | Description |
|---|---|---|
doi | 10.48550/arxiv.2408.15127 | Retrieve enrichments for a specific DOI |
client-id | arxiv.content | Retrieve enrichments for a specific repository’s DOIs by Repository ID |
What's in the API response?
The REST API response includes enrichment records in JSON format. If another page is available for the request, the URL of the new page will be available in links.next portion of the response.
Retrieve a single enrichment
If you know the ID of an enrichment record, you can retrieve a single enrichment record via a GET request to https://api.datacite.org/enrichments/{id}. For example:
curl https://api.datacite.org/enrichments/dae3ff7e-6c18-4391-b5fd-c5ad29988d95
Updated about 2 hours ago