Object relationship types
Relationships between data objects is a part of the DataCite scheme and is also included in the MDR. The types available are listed below and are self-explanatory. In almost all cases they come as corresponding pairs, allowing both ‘views’ or perspectives on a relationship between data objects to be stored. The expectation would be that both representations of a relationship would be stored in the database.
For clinical trial data objects the ‘Has Metadata’ / ‘Is Metadata For’ is often particularly important, allowing both the data and the descriptive metadata, which is also a data object in tis own right, to be described and linked for a particular dataset.
In the descriptions in the list that follows (drawn from DataCite), A is the ‘source’ data object, and B is the related data object.
| id | name | description | source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Is cited by | Indicates that B includes A in a citation. | DataCite |
| 12 | Cites | Indicates that A includes B in a citation. | DataCite |
| 13 | Is supplement to | Indicates that A is a supplement to B. | DataCite |
| 14 | Is supplemented by | Indicates that B is a supplement to A. | DataCite |
| 15 | Is continued by | Indicates A is continued by the work B. | DataCite |
| 16 | Continues | Indicates A is a continuation of the work B. | DataCite |
| 17 | Is described by | Indicates A is described by B. | DataCite |
| 18 | Describes | Indicates A describes B. | DataCite |
| 19 | Has metadata | Indicates resource A has additional metadata B. | DataCite |
| 20 | Is metadata for | Indicates additional metadata A for a resource B. | DataCite |
| 21 | Has version | Indicates A has a version B. | DataCite |
| 22 | Is version of | Indicates A is a version of B. | DataCite |
| 23 | Is new version of | Indicates A is a new edition of B, where the new edition has been modified or updated. | DataCite |
| 24 | Is previous version of | Indicates A is a previous edition of B. | DataCite
|
| 25 | Is part of | Indicates A is a portion of B; may be used for elements of a series. | DataCite |
| 26 | Has part | Indicates A includes the part B. | DataCite |
| 27 | Is referenced by | Indicates A is used as a source of information by B. | DataCite |
| 28 | References | Indicates B is used as a source of information for A. | DataCite |
| 29 | Is documented by | Indicates B is documentation about/ explaining A; e.g. points to software documentation. | DataCite |
| 30 | Documents | Indicates A is documentation about B; e.g. points to software documentation. | DataCite |
| 31 | Is compiled by | Indicates B is used to compile or create A. | DataCite |
| 32 | Compiles | Indicates B is the result of a compile or creation event using A. | DataCite |
| 33 | Is variant form of | Indicates A is a variant or different form of B. | DataCite |
| 34 | Is original form of | Indicates A is the original form of B. | DataCite |
| 35 | Is identical to | Indicates that A is identical to B, for use when there is a need to register two separate instances of the same resource. | DataCite |
| 36 | Is reviewed by | Indicates that A is reviewed by B. | DataCite |
| 37 | Reviews | Indicates that A is a review of B. | DataCite |
| 38 | Is derived from | Indicates B is a source upon which A is based. | DataCite |
| 39 | Is source of | Indicates A is a source upon which B is based. | DataCite |
| 40 | Is required by | Indicates A is required by B (may be used to indicate software dependencies). | DataCite |
| 41 | Requires | Indicates A requires B (may be used to indicate software dependencies). | DataCite |
| 42 | Obsoletes | Indicates A replaces B. | DataCite |
| 43 | Is obsoleted by | Indicates A is replaced by B. | DataCite |
| 0 | Not yet known | Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation. | ECRIN |
