The XML/JSON schema (current version 4.x) maintained by the DataCite Metadata Working Group that defines the mandatory, recommended, and optional metadata properties to be supplied when registering a DOI through DataCite.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 10 Jul 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A Zenodo deposit's DataCite XML containing Title, Creators with ORCID iDs, ResourceType 'Dataset', RelatedIdentifier 'IsSupplementTo' a Crossref DOI, and RightsList containing CC-BY-4.0.
Is an instance
A national data infrastructure generating DataCite 4.5 XML for DOI minting from its internal records.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Crossref deposit XML is a different schema for journal-article DOIs.
Not an instance
JATS XML is full-text article markup, not a DOI metadata schema.

Editorial commentary

DataCite’s schema specifies properties such as Identifier, Creator, Title, Publisher, PublicationYear, ResourceType, Subject, Contributor, Date, RelatedIdentifier, GeoLocation, FundingReference, RightsList, and many more, with a small set of mandatory properties and an extensive set of optional ones. Each release of the schema (currently 4.4 and 4.5 in widespread use; 4.6 published 2024) preserves backward compatibility with prior versions. Many repositories generate DataCite-schema records by transformation from their internal model.

References

DataCite Metadata Working Group, 'DataCite Metadata Schema 4.x' (schema.datacite.org).

Also known as

DataCite Schema · DataCite XML schema

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="DataCite metadata schema"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
  "name": "DataCite metadata schema",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
  "description": "The XML/JSON schema (current version 4.x) maintained by the DataCite Metadata Working Group that defines the mandatory, recommended, and optional metadata properties to be supplied when registering a DOI through DataCite.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-info-systems#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/datacite-metadata-schema",
  "sameAs": [
    "DataCite Schema",
    "DataCite XML schema"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-07-10T02:06:20",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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