Submit new ideas and discuss suggestions
If you have an idea for a change to the DataCite Metadata Schema, let us know through this form:
We recommend first reviewing the ideas on the DataCite Metadata Schema Trello board to see if a similar idea has already been proposed. If it has, you can contribute to the discussion by following the instructions on the card.
You can provide input on suggested changes in community discussions. Schema change ideas are tracked on the DataCite Metadata Schema Trello board. Follow the instructions on the card to participate.
All suggestions are first reviewed by the DataCite team.
We want to make sure that in addition to understanding the proposed change, we understand the underlying problem you’re trying to solve. This helps us evaluate whether updating the DataCite Metadata Schema is the right solution to the problem and to consider other approaches.
We may reach out to you to request more information. Sometimes, we may also ask you to help us gather more information by reaching out to your community.
If your suggestion seems like a good fit for the DataCite Metadata Schema, we’ll add it to the DataCite Metadata Schema Trello board in the Community Discussion section to start gathering input from the DataCite community.
We prioritize ideas that have the potential to solve problems for many users. As part of the evaluation process, we look for patterns across suggestions, support tickets, and other sources. This means that most suggestions won’t be added to the board right away, but we are working on them behind the scenes!
Each stage on the DataCite Metadata Schema Trello board contains ideas that we’ve received. Ideas can move forwards and backwards through the stages depending on the progress of each stage.
For ideas in Community Discussion, we are actively seeking input from the DataCite community.
We use the DataCite Chat Room category of the PID Forum to encourage open discussion of the ideas under consideration. We also may invite you to present your ideas in a DataCite Open Hours session (or we can present on your behalf).
The DataCite team decides when to forward ideas to the next stage—Metadata Working Group Discussion—based on several factors, including the level of community support, feasibility, and resources.
This means that while some changes will move to the next stage quickly, others may remain in community discussion for longer.
Once an idea is no longer under consideration—usually due to lack of community support—it may be removed from this board. If this changes, we can always resurface the idea.
These ideas have been forwarded to the DataCite Metadata Working Group. In this stage, the DataCite Metadata Working Group is actively considering—or about to consider—how to adapt the DataCite Metadata Schema to solve the underlying problem.
During this stage, we’re still seeking input from the DataCite community, and you can continue to contribute to discussions.
Because each metadata schema version takes around one to two years to complete, ideas typically remain in this stage for at least one year. If the Metadata Working Group determines that the optimal solution involves breaking changes—changes which are incompatible with the previous version— the idea could stay here for even longer. This is because we can only introduce breaking changes in major versions (4.0, 5.0, etc.).
Once the Metadata Working Group has finalized a proposal for the next metadata schema version, ideas included in that proposal will be moved to the next stage: Proposed.
Ideas with proposed changes are on track to be included in the next metadata schema release, pending community feedback.
During this stage, we’re looking for input on the proposed change, which may be different from the original idea. For this reason, we encourage you to follow the instructions on the card for participating in our community feedback process.
Released ideas have corresponding changes that have been included in a recent metadata schema release.