Object instance types

Last updated: 19/04/2022

In most cases the instance of a data object that is being referenced in the MDR system will be the entire object, as described by its various attributes. In some cases, however, the instance is not the full object but a description or summary of it.

This can be the case when a public summary or abstract of a data object exists, but the full object is not publicly available. For example, an abstract of a journal article will normally be public, even though the article itself may be behind a pay wall. Rather than treat the abstract as a completely different data object (which would be one approach, but not very useful for most users) it is easier to categorise the abstract as a separate instance of ‘article abstract’ type, and describe it using the same attributes (title, creators, topics etc.) as the article itself.

The instance types available in the system are listed below:

id	name	description	source
1	Full resource	The entire resource as described (e.g. the file(s), document).	ECRIN
2	Summary description	A summary description of the resource, e.g. as provided by a data repository.	ECRIN
3	Article abstract	For journal articles, bibliographic details normally including an abstract, e.g. a PubMed entry.	ECRIN
4	Summary version	A summary of the resource itself (not a description), e,g, a protocol summary.	ECRIN
5	Redacted version	A redacted version of the resource, e.g. a redacted CSR.	ECRIN
0	Not yet known	Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation.	ECRIN