Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A Zenodo deposit's DataCite XML containing Title, Creators with ORCID iDs, ResourceType 'Dataset', RelatedIdentifier 'IsSupplementTo' a Crossref DOI, and RightsList containing CC-BY-4.0.
- Is an instance
A national data infrastructure generating DataCite 4.5 XML for DOI minting from its internal records.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Crossref deposit XML is a different schema for journal-article DOIs.
- Not an instance
JATS XML is full-text article markup, not a DOI metadata schema.
Editorial commentary
DataCite’s schema specifies properties such as Identifier, Creator, Title, Publisher, PublicationYear, ResourceType, Subject, Contributor, Date, RelatedIdentifier, GeoLocation, FundingReference, RightsList, and many more, with a small set of mandatory properties and an extensive set of optional ones. Each release of the schema (currently 4.4 and 4.5 in widespread use; 4.6 published 2024) preserves backward compatibility with prior versions. Many repositories generate DataCite-schema records by transformation from their internal model.
References
- DataCite Metadata Working Group, 'DataCite Metadata Schema 4.x' (schema.datacite.org).
Mandatory vs. recommended properties
Of the many properties the schema defines, only six are strictly mandatory for minting a DataCite DOI: Identifier, Creator, Title, Publisher, PublicationYear, and ResourceType. A repository cannot register a DOI without supplying all six. A further tier is recommended but not required: Subject, Contributor, Date, RelatedIdentifier, Description, and GeoLocation. This mandatory set is also what DataCite’s own standard citation format is built directly from: Creator (PublicationYear): Title. Publisher. ResourceType. Identifier.
Relation to other metadata schemas
DataCite’s schema is deliberately distinct from — but interoperable with — several neighbouring standards: Crossref deposit XML is the equivalent schema used for journal-article DOIs rather than datasets/software; JATS XML is full-text article markup, not a DOI metadata schema at all; and the FAIR Guiding Principles‘ F1/F2 requirements (a globally unique persistent identifier, described with rich metadata) are effectively operationalised, for a citable dataset, by supplying a complete DataCite record. A properly-populated DataCite record is also frequently what a funder-required data management plan commits an investigator to producing at the point of deposit.
References
- DataCite Metadata Working Group, ‘DataCite Metadata Schema 4.x’ (schema.datacite.org).
- DataCite Metadata Schema documentation (datacite-metadata-schema.readthedocs.io).
Also known as
DataCite Schema · DataCite XML schema
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="DataCite Metadata Schema"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
"name": "DataCite Metadata Schema",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
"description": "The XML/JSON schema (current version 4.x) maintained by the DataCite Metadata Working Group that defines the mandatory, recommended, and optional metadata properties to be supplied when registering a DOI through DataCite.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-info-systems#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
"sameAs": [
"DataCite Schema",
"DataCite XML schema"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-21T02:17:05",
"dateModified": "2026-08-22T12:43:16",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
