Add metadata to the ODISSEI Portal

    We are delighted to see you consider adding metadata to the ODISSEI Portal. In this page, you will find instructions to do so. The following conditions are in place regarding the metadata that the ODISSEI Portal collects:
      1. Metadata must describe a dataset or a collection of datasets (at this moment, other research outputs such as software and codebooks are not included although they can be referred to in the “Related material” field);
      2. The datasets described by the metadata are of interest to social science researchers;
      3. We focus on data providers based in the Netherlands for the current phase of the ODISSEI Portal.
      4. If you represent a broader-scope repository (e.g., university repository) including data from various disciplines, please still consider sharing a subset of your records with us.
    Should you need additional assistance, reach out to us via fairsupport@odissei-data.nl.

    The ODISSEI Portal

    The ODISSEI Portal is an initiative of the Dutch national infrastructure for the Social Sciences and Economics, creating one access point for data collections that are relevant for the Dutch social sciences community. The ODISSEI Portal is an aggregator of metadata that is published in other (meta)data repositories. The metadata from other repositories is ingested, combined, streamlined and enriched in a single interface. 

    Go to the ODISSEI Portal

    There are three main routes to have your organisation’s metadata added to the ODISSEI Portal, depending on its current situation:

    1. Your organisation has (a) dataset(s) of which the metadata are not published anywhere, but the dataset(s) can be deposited in a repository, either openly or under controlled access conditions → Follow Route 1
    2. Your organisation has (a) dataset(s) that cannot be deposited anywhere, but has been assigned a persistent identifier (e.g., DOI or handle) and the metadata are available (e.g., in a data management system or repository) → Follow Route 2
    3. Your organisation has (a) dataset(s) that cannot be deposited anywhere,whose metadata are not published anywhere, and the dataset(s) does not have a persistent identifier (e.g., DOI or handle) → Follow Route 3

    Route 1: Deposit dataset(s) in a trustworthy digital repository

    The easiest way to get dataset(s) into the ODISSEI Portal is to deposit it in a trustworthy digital repository, which will assign a persistent identifier to your dataset(s) and allow you to create a metadata description following an understable schema. In most repositories, you are allowed to impose controlled access conditions to the data (i.e. you are not forced to make it openly available). There are two repositories which are already connected to the ODISSEI Portal, which would mean that after you deposit the dataset there, the metadata soon appears in the ODISSEI Portal as well – as long as you mark “Social Sciences” among the subjects: 

    • The DANS SSH Data Station. This is the preferred option if you wish to make use of the functionalities of the Data Access Broker. 
    • DataverseNL. Many Dutch universities and institutes use it already. 

    If you wish to use a different repository, e.g., because your institute provides one or because it is common to use it in your field, and wish to see it connected to the ODISSEI Portal, or if you are unsure whether you can deposit your dataset, please contact us.

    Route 2: Add metadata collections from your data management system to the ODISSEI Portal

    This route is meant for those (prospective) data providers that have restricted-access datasets documented in a data management system (e.g., of their organisation), in which the dataset(s) are assigned a persistent identifier (either DOI or Handle) and the metadata describing the datasets can be exported from this system in a machine-readable format, and shared either via a watched folder or via an end-point. The following requirements apply in order to have the metadata ingested into the ODISSEI Portal.

    a. Required metadata fields

    In the ODISSEI Portal we have a set of metadata fields that we require from all data providers. The list of mandatory and desirable fields, alongside their format or associated controlled lists (when applicable) can be accessed at this link. Table 1 includes an overview of the mandatory information that the ODISSEI Portal should be able to ingest from an existing repository.

    Table 1. Overview of mandatory  information for ingestion in the ODISSEI Portal. 

    ItemDescription
    TitleFull title by which the Dataset is known.
    Author(s) / Principle Investigator(s)The person(s), corporate body(ies), or agency(ies) responsible for creating the work.
    Point of contact – Email(s)The email address(es) of the contact(s) for the Dataset. Note that any questions or contacts made through the Portal go through a Portal support desk and not directly to you. 
    Persistent IdentifierPersistent Identifier of the dataset. We currently accept Handles and DOIs.
    Persistent Identifier – AgencyName of the PID agency which generated this identifier.
    Description / AbstractA summary describing the purpose, nature, and scope of the Dataset.
    Subject(s)Domain-specific Subject that is topically relevant to the Dataset. The subject is based on a controlled list of subjects used in Dataverse. There can be multiple subjects, each specified in a different field.
    Producer name [Publisher]Name of the data provider who provided that information. 
    Publication YearDate when the dataset was published. 
    Licence The licence of the data
    Data Access ConditionsWe would like to receive information about conditions under which data can be accessed using this template

    In addition to the required metadata, we encourage you to provide any additional information you have available. In particular, variable information as part of your metadata is of great relevance to social science researchers. The list of the metadata fields currently supported by the ODISSEI Portal can be accessed at this link. 

    For more information about PIDs, see Braukmann (2022) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7304702.

    b. Persistent identifiers

    A metadata record in the repository has to include a persistence identifier (PID; preferably a DOI, Handle is also accepted). Datasets without a PID cannot be included in the ODISSEI Portal (see Route 1 and 3). 

    c. Machine-readable metadata

    Metadata needs to be provided in a standardised way including information about the fields we can expect in the metadata records. Preferably you use a standard schema (DDI, DC) with an existing mapping, but it is also possible to use a custom schema as long as you supply sufficient information on how to interpret the schema and how it relates to the ODISSEI Portal schema (see below). The metadata should ideally be exported or made available to us through an endpoint that we can harvest, for instance in JSON or XML format. 

    If you use a metadata schema for which we do not yet have a mapping available (see Table below), please provide us with information about your metadata schema and a mapping between your metadata fields and the metadata fields used in the ODISSEI Portal 

    If applicable, also include a list of the controlled vocabularies or ontologies that you use, in particular if they are not already available in this list.

    Table 2. List of metadata schemas for which mappings are available:

    Metadata schema used by providerAvailable mapping
    DDI Codebook 2.5DataCite 4OpenAIREDC ElementDC TermsSchema.org JSON-LD (Dataset)Yes, here
    Custom schemaNo, please provide us with a mapping of your metadata fields and the metadata fields used in the ODISSEI Portal  
    d. Metadata delivery

    Once you have established that (a) at least all the required fields can be provided, (b) a persistent identifier is available, (c) the metadata can be provided in a machine-readable format, please send a request to fairsupport@odissei-data.nl including the following information

    • background about your data and repository
    • the type of PID assigned to your data
    • which metadata schema you use (if possible include an example file) 
    • a list of the licences that can be used in your repository
    • an overview of the access conditions you handle for (restricted) data (ideally using  this template)
    • how you want to make the metadata available to us (i.e. connection via endpoint or watched folder with metadata files);

    The ODISSEI Portal team will assess the request and contact you for clarifications and/or to arrange a (online) meeting to discuss your use case and to answer any further questions. We will evaluate the compatibility of your metadata with the ODISSEI Portal functionalities and then discuss the further process of how your metadata can be ingested.

    Route 3: ODISSEI publishes the metadata for ingestion in the ODISSEI Portal

    Some organisations (e.g., companies and smaller governmental organisations) are – under conditions – willing to share data sets with the social science research community, even though they may not have a data management system which allows to assign persistent identifiers, and/or may not describe data using metadata schemas, and/or are not able to deposit datasets in a trustworthy digital repository. 

    To make it as easy as possible for these organisations to share data with the Dutch social science community, ODISSEI can take the effort of publishing the metadata in a metadata-only repository on their behalf. This requires that the selection criteria outlined in Route 2 are met, and that the required metadata fields can be filled in (see Table 2 below). Moreover, additional information may be asked depending on the nature of the data being documented. 

    Please be aware that once assigned a persistent identifier in the ODISSEI metadata-only repository, the metadata record cannot be deleted. Moreover we expect the data provider to keep the documented data available for research (under restricted access conditions) for at least 5 years.

    Table 2. Overview of mandatory  information for ingestion in the ODISSEI Portal. 

    ItemDescription
    TitleFull title by which the Dataset is known.
    Author(s) / Principle Investigator(s)The person(s), corporate body(ies), or agency(ies) responsible for creating the work.
    Point of contact – Email(s)The email address(es) of the contact(s) for the Dataset. Note that any questions or contacts made through the Portal go through a Portal support desk and not directly to you. 
    Description / AbstractA summary describing the purpose, nature, and scope of the Dataset.
    Subject(s)Domain-specific Subject that is topically relevant to the Dataset. The subject is based on a controlled list of subjects used in Dataverse. There can be multiple subjects, each specified in a different field.
    Producer name [Publisher]Name of the data provider who provided that information. 
    Publication YearDate when the dataset was published. 
    Licence The licence of the data.
    Data Access ConditionsWe would like to receive information about conditions under which data can be accessed using this template.

    Note: In addition to the required metadata, we encourage you to provide any additional information you have available. In particular, variable information as part of your metadata is of great relevance to social science researchers.

    In a collaborative effort, ODISSEI and the data provider will fill in the metadata fields, and specify the licence and data access conditions. In addition, a process to update the metadata will be defined. After these steps are completed, ODISSEI will publish the metadata in a metadata-only repository running Dataverse software and a persistent identifier will be generated for the metadata. The repository contains the metadata of other data providers as well, and the content of the repository will be ingested into the ODISSEI Portal. 

    Next steps

    If you want to add your metadata to the ODISSEI Portal and/or need additional assistance, please reach out to us via fairsupport@odissei-data.nl. 

    Additional information on metadata

    Updates and retraction of metadata

    The current version of the Portal harvests the metadata from the data providers at one given moment in time, but starting from December 2024 automatic weekly updates will be implemented. Before then, in case a data provider needs the metadata to be updated, they can always get in contact with us.

    If a metadata record needs to be removed from the Portal, the best route is through de-accessioning the (meta)data at the source repository. Most repositories can de-accession a dataset where the PID remains accessible resolving to a landing page with basic information and an explanation of why a record has been removed. This is possible for the DANS Data Stations, DataverseNL and the ODISSEI metadata-only repository (route 3). Once a record is deaccessioned in the source repository it will not be included in the ODISSEI Portal the next time we harvest the metadata. If a record needs to be removed from the ODISSEI Portal urgently, please contact fairsupport@odissei-data.nl.

    The ODISSEI Portal team is managing the ingestion pipeline. For transparency, each metadata record in the ODISSEI Portal is assigned a provenance record detailing all the services (including their version) used to ingest, prepare and enrich the metadata. The scripts used for the ODISSEI Portal deployment, ingestion and enrichment are available on the ODISSEI GitHub page. 

    If you would like to know more about our technical implementation, please feel free to contact us at fairsupport@odissei-data.nl.

    Disclaimer

    The ODISSEI Portal team is not responsible for the content of the provider’s metadata. The quality of the metadata as well as the trustworthiness of the information provided are a sole responsibility of the metadata provider. It is also the responsibility of the metadata provider to ensure that the metadata are up-to-date. In the case of Route 2, the provider has to ensure that the metadata remains available indefinitely and that the DOI remains resolvable.