Related Information
Meaning and purpose
Related information that is located outside the ANDS Collections Registry is described primarily using a URI. This should point to a web page providing contextual information about the object or entity being described. There are no restraints on the kind of information that can be linked to.
Information that can be recorded to describe related information includes:
- an identifier element that contains the URI of the related information (previously this URI was not contained within its own element). The identifier element is mandatory.
- a title for the related information. A title is optional.
- notes that explain how this related information is relevant to the collection or other object being described in the metadata record. A note is optional. The note element can also be used to record citations for related print or electronic publications.
RelatedInfo Type
Optionally, the kind of related information can be recorded using the suggested vocabulary or local types.
- publication: any formally published document, whether available in digital or online format or not
- website: any publicly accessible location containing information related to the collection, activity, party or service.
- reuseInformation: information that supports reuse of data, such as data definitions, instrument calibration or settings, units of measurement, sample descriptions, experimental parameters, methodology, data analysis techniques, or data derivation rules. This may include:
- data dictionaries, data definitions, interpretations of column and row labels and table names, explanation of data values
- data models or descriptions of how the data is structured and organised
- scientific models
- scientific workflows
- software or software configuration
- instrument calibration or settings
- sample descriptions
- experimental parameters
- methodology
- data analysis techniques
- data derivation or transformation rules
- dataQualityInformation: data quality statements or summaries of data quality issues affecting the data.
RelatedInfo Identifier Type
A relatedInfo identifier and its type are required. Related information is an information resource, therefore identifier types are those appropriate to information resources. Local types may also be used.
- ark: ARK Persistent Identifier Scheme
- doi: Digital Object Identifier
- ean13: International Article Number
- eissn: electronic International Standard Serial Number
- handle: HANDLE System Identifier
- infouri: 'info' URI scheme
- local: identifer unique within a local context
- purl: Persistent Uniform Resource Locator
- uri: Uniform Resource Identifier
- issn: International Standard Serial Number
- isbn: International Standard Book Number
- istc: International Standard Text Code
- lissn: linking ISSN (ISSN-L)
- upc: Universal Product Code
- urn: Uniform Resource Name
Research domain examples
Related information might be a citation or reference to a publication, journal or thesis based on a research data collection.
An example from Research Data Australia is the Crystal structure of scabies mite inactivated protease paralogue S-D1 (SMIPP-S-D1) dataset record. Its relatedInfo element contains links to the PubMed citation for a journal article based on that dataset published in the Journal of Molecular Biology.
Use in Research Data Australia
Related information is displayed as URLs that can be used to navigate to web sites outside of Research Data Australia. Additional information provided using RIF-CS v1.2.0 will also be displayed. Where possible, identifiers will be displayed as resolvable URLs. More information about URL displays.
RIF-CS best practice guidelines
- Related Information links to information located outside the registry. This contrasts with connections within the registry to other registry objects, which are handled using the Related Object and Relation functionality inside the registry.
- URLs may be of the form http or https; either is acceptable.
RIF-CS 1.2.0 example (illustrative only)
<relatedInfo type="publication">
<identifier type="url">http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7451/</identifier>
<title>Series of Detailed Turbulence Measurements in a Small Subtropical Estuarine System</title>
<notes>Contains additional information about this dataset including calibration and data accuracy.</notes>
</relatedInfo>
Notes about the example: The type attribute is optional as are the <title> and <notes> elements, however the <identifier> element is required.
| Date | Change history |
| April 2010 | Consultation draft |
| 26 Oct 2010 | RIF-CS v1.2.0 change information added |
| 22 July 2011 | Added advice to include any related publication citations in the relatedInfo notes element |
| 30 Sept 2011 | Added clarification that links to https are acceptable, removed obsolete RIF-CS v1.0.1 example, added information about upcoming new types, re-use information and data quality information |
| 21 Nov 2011 | RIF-CS v1.3.0 related info types added (reuseInformation and dataQualityInformation) |
| 29 Nov 2011 | Added link to information about URL display |
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