Add Metadata to Your OSF Registration
Once you have created an OSF Registration you can enhance it with some additional metadata regarding the type of resources included and funding information. This enhanced information will increase the likelihood of your project being found and understood. Adding information about funding agencies may also help you in assuring compliance with funder mandates.
- Finding Registration Metadata
- Editing Basic Registration Metadata
- Resource Information Metadata
- Funder/Support Metadata
- Subjects and Tags
Finding Registration Metadata
Registration metadata can be edited in two ways. When you are logged into your OSF account, you will see that the metadata listed in the right column of the registration page is editable by clicking the pencil icon:
A pop-up modal will then allow you to edit and save the metadata in that field:
Not all metadata fields are viewable in this side menu, however. To view and edit all metadata fields, click on the Metadata tab in the project navigation side menu:
The "Metadata" page will open for your registration. The existing metadata that you entered when creating your registration will be listed (description, contributors, and tags). In addition, if you have already created enhanced metadata for an associated project, that will also be listed. From this screen you can add new or edit existing metadata using the pencil icon.
Editing Basic Registration Metadata
You can choose to edit any of these fields by clicking the pencil icon next to the section:
After adjusting or adding metadata, click the blue Save button to enter your changes.
Because contributors to registrations cannot be changed after the registration is finalized, clicking on the pencil icon next to Contributors will only give you the ability to create view-only links for the registration. See the guide on Creating a View-Only Link to a Registration for more information on this process. You may also wish to read the guide on Understanding Contributor Permissions.
Click on the Metadata link in the top navigation of this page to return to the registration metadata.
Resource Information Metadata
Several fields on the metadata editing page do not appear during the registration creation process. If you are creating a new registration without having created a project first, or if you did not add metadata to your project, these fields will initially be blank. If you are creating a registration from an OSF Project that does have this metadata it will be pre-populated in these fields.
You can add or edit any of these fields by clicking the pencil icon next to the section.
The first new section is related to Resource Information. These fields describe the type of materials you are storing and the language. At this stage we are describing the registration as a whole, not specific files (metadata for those can be added next).
Resource type presents you with a dropdown list of choices provided by the DataCite schema. This information is critical when creating a DOI for your project. At this time DataCite has not added a specific term for a study registration. As an alternative we suggest you use collection. The next iteration of the DataCite schema will add a term for registrations. You will be able to update your registration metadata at that time if you wish. A full list of the available types and their definitions is found in this guide.
Resource language asks for a predominant language for your registration. These choices are again selected from a dropdown list. Since this list is longer, you may want to start to type in the language name to find it more quickly.
Once the type and language have been added, click the blue Save button to record your changes.
Funding/Support Metadata
The next section presents Funding or Support Information. If your research is the result of funding from an organization in the Crossref Funder Registry you can search for and add that funder name to your project. This will add both the funder name and their ID number to your metadata enabling that funder to find your registration more easily.
Additional information about the award title, a URI where more information can be found and an award number can also be added.
If you have been the recipient of funding from more than one body, click the green Add another button to add more funders. Once all funding information has been added, click the blue Save button to record your changes.
Subjects and Tags
The final metadata section allow you to add subjects and tags to aid in discoverability and description. Subjects are chosen from the list by clicking on the checkboxes. More specific options can be found by clicking the blue arrow next to a term to expand the fuller list.
Tags appear at the bottom of the metadata page. Click on the text at the bottom that says Add a tag to enhance discoverability.
