Figshare includes a range of stock metadata fields that are used to capture key information about the Items, Projects and Collections added by users. In addition, it is possible for organisations to configure their Figshare Repository to capture custom metadata fields. The ability to capture custom metadata fields enhances the organization, discoverability, and usability of research outputs and data. 

Figshare’s flexible approach to capturing custom metadata fields allows organisations to have complete control over the information they collect during the deposit process to create metadata application profiles and better align metadata content with custom or standard metadata schema. By capturing metadata that is unique to a particular discipline or organisation, users can describe their data more effectively. This support article outlines how custom metadata can be configured in Figshare. 

Adding custom metadata fields

Custom metadata fields have two different modes of behaviour, depending on whether they are configured at the Institutional-level or Group-level. Institutional-level custom metadata fields are managed in the ‘Administration’ section (Menu > Administration > Metadata and Group-level custom metadata fields are managed on the Group configuration page (Menu > Administration > Groups > Configure groups). 

Adding custom metadata at the Institutional-level 

Custom metadata fields defined at the Institutional-level are configured on the ‘Metadata’ tab of the Administration area. This tab can be accessed by Administrators. Custom metadata configured on the ‘Metadata’ tab will be inherited by all Groups in the system and cannot be modified at the Group level. You should ensure that the custom metadata fields defined here are applicable for all Groups. 

There are three sub-tabs that allow the independent configuration of custom metadata fields for Items, Projects or Collections.  

Adding custom metadata at the Group-level

Custom fields defined for a Group will only appear for Items, Projects and Collections that belong to that Group and will not cascade to any Subgroups. 

On the ‘Configure group’ page the ‘Custom metadata fields’ section displays ‘Inherited metadata fields’ and ‘Group based metadata fields’. These are the custom metadata fields configured at the Institutional-level and the Group-level respectively.

Note: When Projects are created, they are defined as being either ‘Group’ projects or ‘Individual’ projects. Group projects will use custom metadata fields from the both Institutional-level and the Group that the Project belongs to. Individual Projects will use custom metadata fields from the Institutional-level only.

Defining custom metadata fields

Administrators can define custom metadata by setting the following properties:

  • Type - Administrators can select the data type of the custom metadata field from a predetermined set. Available options include:
    • Date Selector
    • Dropdown list
    • Dropdown List Large (list values must be added via the API)
    • Email Field
    • Geospatial (can only be used for Items) 
    • Text area (up to 10,000 characters)
    • Text field (up to 250 characters)
    • URL field
  • Label - A text field where you can define the name given to the custom metadata field. The label can be up to 100 characters.
  • Guidance text (optional) - Add guidance for users that will appear on the tips section of the edit page. 
  • Default Values - Option depends on the data type selected, Administrators can add values for input e.g. values for dropdown list. 
  • Initial state - Applies to list data types. Determine whether or a placeholder or default value is used. 
  • Placeholder - Option depends on data type. Determine the placeholder text that is displayed to users prior to their input of data. 
  • Mandatory - Choose if the custom metadata field must be completed by users before saving the form. 
  • Allow Multiple Selection - Applies to list data types. Determine if authors can select more than one value.

From the ‘More actions’ menu, it is possible to carry out a number of additional actions:

  • Duplicate - This duplicates the custom metadata field within the current section (e.g. Items, Projects or Collactions) 
  • Copy to… - This allows the custom metadata field to be copied within one of the other sections 
  • Move - Custom metadata fields can be reordered. Note: Institutional-level custom metadata fields will always appear above Group-level custom metadata fields. In addition, reordering custom metadata fields will impact all existing private and public Items, as well as all historic versions of Items.     
  • Delete - Deletes the custom metadata field. 

The ‘Export (.csv)’ button generates a report containing all details of the custom metadata fields within a particular section (i.e. Items, Projects or Collections. This report will be emailed to the requesting users.

Editing and deleting custom metadata fields

It is possible to make changes to custom metadata field configuration after their creation. However, the label and data type of the custom metadata field cannot be changed. It is therefore important to ensure these are correct at the point of creation. 

Custom metadata fields can be deleted by Administrators. Please exercise caution when deleting custom metadata fields. If the custom metadata field is deleted, this will impact all private Items that have used the metadata field. 

Public Items will not be impacted unless the Item is modified and republished. At this point, the old public version will be overwritten and the custom metadata fields will not be visible anymore. Older versions of the Item will retain the deleted field.