Richly Described Data is Findable, Accessible and Useful 

'The metadata accompanying your data should be written for a user 20 years into the future ... Prepare the metadata for a user who is unfamiliar with your project, methods, or observations.' Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Distributed Active Archive Center

How to guides for creating high quality metadata

How do I describe my dataset in Research Data Portal (RDP)?

Use the Research Data Portal (RDP) metadata element guide below to richly describe your dataset.

• Title of Dataset 
  • unique (not the same as grant or publication title), descriptive, use keywords, plain English, no acronyms, max 80 characters
• Dataset Key 
  •  default unique RDP identifier
• Dataset Description  
  • describe the dataset and provide context,  use plain English & discipline specific language, no acronyms.  Include:  subject and keyword terms, specific data collection & processing information, methodology used and any provenance information which would help someone replicate findings, time frame and location details, file/ object types 
• Storage and File details
• Field(s) of Research 
  • FOR Research Codes drop down menu
• Socio Economic Objective
  • SEO Research Codes drop down menu
• Additional Keywords 
  • free text/ discipline specific vocabulary
• Time period for data 
  •  ISO 8601 Date and Time format
• Where data was collected 
  • geo-location information 
• Data Creator 
  • ORCID required
• Data Co-Creators 
  •  ORCID required
• Data Administrator 
  • ORCID required
• Administering Unit 
  • UTAS Unit drop down menu
• Email of contact person for data access
  • UTAS email addresses only 
• Level of access to data 
  • Open, Mediated, Closed drop down menu
• Creative Commons Licence 
  • linked Creative Commons Licenses drop down menu
• Rights Statement
  • free text statement 
• Unique Identifier
  • DataCite DOI via ARDC DOI minting service, see DOIs for Datasets
    • Open published datasets - DOI automatically minted when open dataset is published
    • Mediated published datasets - DOI automatically minted when mediated dataset is published

Related Information

• Associated publications
  • link to associated research publications uploaded to Web Access Research Portal (WARP) 
• Funding project or grant -
  • search, find and link the dataset to the funding project or grant in the Web Access Research Portal (WARP)
• Supplementary files 
  • upload additional files or link to a third-party site (i.e. external repository). Supplementary files are not part of your dataset, they might be relevant methodology PDFs etc
• Online resources
  • Link to associated online resources (i.e. data services, third party repositories) 

See Manage your research data for more RDP metadata guidance  (Intranet) 

Need assistance? 

Download the Metadata guides on Manage your research data   (Intranet) 

Email Research.Data@utas.edu.au