Figshare Metadata Schema Overview
Figshare metadata is based on the DataCite schema. It is stored in a relational database and can be mapped to other metadata schemas. Metadata for an Item, Collection, or Project is available in JSON format from the API (https://docs.figshare.com). The citation metadata is also available from the public item page formatted as Dublin Core, DataCite, National Library of Medicine, BibTeX, RefWorks, EndNote, or RIS. To learn more about where this metadata is indexed and searchable, see our help page on discoverability.
Descriptive Metadata
These are fields available in the metadata entry form, with a focus on fields related to Items – the most granular type of record in Figshare. If you are at an institution using Figshare as a repository rather than using a figshare.com account, you may have more of the optional fields or custom fields available to you. The API field name column does not list the subfields that may be part of the metadata field. To see subfields, visit the API endpoint descriptions in the API documentation: https://docs.figshare.com
| Field | DataCite Field (sent to DataCite) | Required/Optional | Field Limits | API field name | Institutions Only |
| Title | <titles><title> | Required | 3-1000 chars | title | No |
| Authors | <creators><creator><creatorName><nameIdentifier> (ORCID and ROR is sent if available) | Required | 1:100 | authors | No |
| Item Type | resourceType | Required | 1 | defined_type_name | No |
| Categories | <subjects><subject> | Required | 1:100 | categories | No |
| Keywords | – | Required | 1:100 (1-2000 chars each) | Keywords or tags | No |
| Description | descriptions | Required | 4:10,000 chars | description | No |
| License | <rightsList><rights> | Required | 1 | license | No |
| Funding | fundingReferences | Optional | 0:100 (3-2000 chars each) | fundingfunding_list | No |
| References | <relatedIdentifiers><relatedIdentifier> | Optional | 0:100 | references | No |
| Resource Title (Deprecated) | – | Optional | 0:1 (3-1000 chars) | resource_title | No |
| Resource DOI (Deprecated) | <relatedIdentifiers><relatedIdentifier> | Optional | 0:1 ( up to 255 chars) | recource_doi | No |
| Related Materials | <relatedIdentifiers><relationType><relatedIdentifier><relatedIdentifierType> | Optional | – | Related_materials: relation, link, identifier_type | No |
| First Online Date | – | Optional | 0:1yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: firstOnline | No |
| Publisher Date | <dates><date> (dateType=”Created”) And publicationYear | Optional | 0:1yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: publisherPublication | Yes |
| Accepted Date | – | Optional | 0:1yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: publisherAcceptance | Yes |
| Submitted Date | – | Optional | 0:1yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: submission | Yes |
| RevisionDate | – | Optional | 0:1yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: revision | Yes |
| Files | – | Optional | 0:Configurable | files | No |
| Is Metadata Record | – | Optional | true/false | is_metadata_record | No |
| Metadata Record Reason | – | Optional | 0-255 chars | metadata_reason | No |
| Has Linked File | – | Optional | true/false | has_linked_file | No |
| Linked File URL | – | Optional | 0-1000 chars | files: download_url | No |
| Is Embargoed | – | Optional | true/false | is_embargoed | No |
| Embargo Title | – | Optional | 3-80 chars | embargo_title | No |
| Embargo Reason | – | Optional | 3-1000 chars | embargo_reason | No |
| Embargo Date | – | Optional | yyyy-mm-dd | embargo_date | No |
| Embargo Type | – | Optional | – | embargo_type | No |
| Embargo Options | – | Optional | – | embargo_options | Yes |
| Custom Fields | – | Optional | – | custom_fields | Yes |
| Group | – | Optional | integer | group_id | Yes |
Descriptive fields that are managed by the system:
| Field | DataCite Field | Field Limits | API field name | Description | |
| Version | – | 0:Configurable | version | DataCite maintains version information through the DOI | |
| Size | sizes | – | size | Size in bytes | |
| DOI | identifier | Valid format | doi | ||
| Handle | – | Valid format | handle | Institution only | |
| Item URL | – | Valid format | figshare_url | ||
| Created Date | – | yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ | created_date | This is the date the version was published on Figshare. | |
| Modified Date | <dates><date> (dateType=”Updated”) | yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ | modified_date | ||
| Published Date | – | yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ | published_date | This is the same as posted date and is used in searches when limiting by “published_since” | |
| Posted Date | <dates><date> (dateType=”Created”) and publicationYear | yyyy-mm-dd | timeline: posted | Overwritten by “Publisher date” if available | |
| Item Type ID | – | integer | defined_type |
System Metadata
This table shows some of the other fields available from the user interface or through the API.
| Field | DataCite Field | Field Limits | API field name | Description |
| ID | – | – | id | Every entity receives an id |
| Status | – | – | status | |
| API URL | – | – | url | Same as Public API URL |
| Is Public | – | – | is_public | |
| Thumb URL | – | – | thumb | |
| Private API URL | – | – | url_private_api | |
| Public API URL | – | – | url_public_api | Same as API URL |
| HTML Private URL | – | – | url_private_html | |
| HTML Public URL | – | – | url_public_html | |
| Citation | – | – | citation |
