Metadata Guidelines

Publishing research outputs in a findable and reusable way can increase the discovery and distribution of digital research content.  In recognition of the FAIR data principles, adding clear and descriptive metadata to a published record helps make digital content Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.  Metadata can increase the discovery of digital content and lets people know the circumstances under which data can be reused and how data should be preserved into the future.

Adding descriptive and meaningful metadata to the institutional repository Melbourne Figshare

The text fields within a Figshare record allow research data to be published alongside a clear and meaningful  description of the output.  The description, along with reuse licensing information, provides essential context for understanding and ensuring reproducibility of the work.

Learn more about best practice when adding metadata to figshare by visiting the webapge ‘How to fill in the metadata fields (Start here!!)’

Published research data generally require some kind of online description (i.e. metadata) and should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable, both manually and with automated tools. This requires researchers to include appropriate context (descriptive, technical, methodological, access, and provenance information) either within the data structure or in separate metadata records for the research data. The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 3.1 Retention and publication

Custom Metadata Field

'Add to Elements' is a custom Metadata field, only available from within Melbourne Figshare.  Selecting 'yes' from the dropdown menu under this field will send metadata about items published in Melbourne Figshare to Elements, Find an expert and the University's Researcher Dashboard.  Find out more information through this Knowledge Based Article.