Object relationship types

Last updated: 19/04/2022

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	use_in_data_entry	source
11	Is cited by	Indicates that B includes A in a citation.	false	DataCite
12	Cites	Indicates that A includes B in a citation.	false	DataCite
13	Is supplement to	Indicates that A is a supplement to B.	true	DataCite
14	Is supplemented by	Indicates that B is a supplement to A.	true	DataCite
15	Is continued by	Indicates A is continued by the work B.	false	DataCite
16	Continues	Indicates A is a continuation of the work B.	false	DataCite
17	Is described by	Indicates A is described by B.	true	DataCite
18	Describes	Indicates A describes B.	true	DataCite
19	Has metadata	Indicates resource A has additional metadata B.	true	DataCite
20	Is metadata for	Indicates additional metadata A for a resource B.	true	DataCite
21	Has version	Indicates A has a version B.	true	DataCite
22	Is version of	Indicates A is a version of B.	true	DataCite
23	Is new version of	Indicates A is a new edition of B, where the new edition has been modified or updated.	false	DataCite
24	Is previous version of	Indicates A is a previous edition of B.	false	DataCite
25	Is part of	Indicates A is a portion of B; may be used for elements of a series.	false	DataCite
26	Has part	Indicates A includes the part B.	false	DataCite
27	Is referenced by	Indicates A is used as a source of information by B.	false	DataCite
28	References	Indicates B is used as a source of information for A.	false	DataCite
29	Is documented by	Indicates B is documentation about/ explaining A; e.g. points to software documentation.	true	DataCite
30	Documents	Indicates A is documentation about B; e.g. points to software documentation.	true	DataCite
31	Is compiled by	Indicates B is used to compile or create A.	false	DataCite
32	Compiles	Indicates B is the result of a compile or creation event using A.	false	DataCite
33	Is variant form of	Indicates A is a variant or different form of B.	false	DataCite
34	Is original form of	Indicates A is the original form of B.	false	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.	false	DataCite
36	Is reviewed by	Indicates that A is reviewed by B.	false	DataCite
37	Reviews	Indicates that A is a review of B.	false	DataCite
38	Is derived from	Indicates B is a source upon which A is based.	true	DataCite
39	Is source of	Indicates A is a source upon which B is based.	true	DataCite
40	Is required by	Indicates A is required by B (may be used to indicate software dependencies).	false	DataCite
41	Requires	Indicates A requires B (may be used to indicate software dependencies).	false	DataCite
42	Obsoletes	Indicates A replaces B.	true	DataCite
43	Is obsoleted by	Indicates A is replaced by B.	true	DataCite
0	Not yet known	Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation.	false	ECRIN