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Controlled vocabularies

Controlled vocabularies for metadata play a crucial role in systematically organising and managing information, particularly in the context of datasets. A controlled vocabulary consists of predefined terms with assigned meanings, ensuring consistency when describing and categorizing information.

In addition, persistent identifiers (PIDs) are used to provide robust links and avoid disambiguation when referring to definitions of individuals, organisations or places, and may also be used in a similar manner.

A selection of best practices regarding controlled vocabularies and persistent identifiers are listed below. These will make it more likely that Researchdata.se will be able to reuse the metadata when harvesting from a data source.

Organisations

For organisations, providing a ROR ID PID is the preferred method for identifying the organisation.

Examples:
https://ror.org/05ynxx418
https://ror.org/040wg7k59
https://ror.org/03zttf063

Persons

To identify a person, use ORCID, a PID for researchers and other contributors.

Examples:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9227-8514

Structure of the ORCID Identifier

Subjects & keywords

There are multiple vocabularies used to categorise and tag resources. Some of them cover several disciplines, while others are specific to a limited set of research domains.

AAT – The Art & Architecture Thesaurus

https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/

Example term:
http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300191918

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="AAT The art & Architecture Thesaurus" 
    schemeURI="http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/" 
    valueURI="http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300191918"
    classificationCode="300191918" 
    xml:lang="en">Asian coins</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300191918",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/",
            "termCode": "300191918",
            "name": "Asian coins"
        }
    ]
}

AGROVOC – Vocabulary for Agricultural Sciences

https://agrovoc.fao.org/browse/agrovoc

Example term:
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2536

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="AGROVOC Vocabulary for Agricultural Sciences" 
    schemeURI="http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc" 
    valueURI="http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2152"
    classificationCode="c_2536" 
    xml:lang="en">elks</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2536",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://agrovoc.fao.org/browse/agrovoc",
            "termCode": "c_2536",
            "name": "elks"
        }
    ]
}

ALLFO – Allmän finländsk ontologi

https://finto.fi/yso

Example term:
http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p13693

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="ALLFO - Allmän finländsk ontologi" 
    schemeURI="https://finto.fi/yso" 
    valueURI="http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p13693"
    classificationCode="p13693" 
    xml:lang="en">elk</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p13693",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://finto.fi/yso",
            "termCode": "p13693",
            "name": "elk"
        }
    ]
}

ELSST – The European Language Social Science Thesaurus

https://elsst.cessda.eu

Example term:
https://elsst.cessda.eu/id/4/a74cd285-d1c6-4e55-8c0d-faf0fe94399f

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="ELSST The European Language Social Science Thesaurus" 
    schemeURI="https://elsst.cessda.eu" 
    valueURI="https://elsst.cessda.eu/id/4/a74cd285-d1c6-4e55-8c0d-faf0fe94399f"
    classificationCode="urn:ddi:int.cessda.elsst:a74cd285-d1c6-4e55-8c0d-faf0fe94399f:4" 
    xml:lang="en">ENVIRONMENT</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "https://elsst.cessda.eu/id/4/a74cd285-d1c6-4e55-8c0d-faf0fe94399f",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://elsst.cessda.eu",
            "termCode": "urn:ddi:int.cessda.elsst:a74cd285-d1c6-4e55-8c0d-faf0fe94399f:4",
            "name": "ENVIRONMENT"
        }
    ]
}

EnvThes – Environmental Thesaurus

https://vocabs.lter-europe.net/envthes

Example term:
http://vocabs.lter-europe.net/EnvThes/20800

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="EnvThes Environmental Thesaurus" 
    schemeURI="https://vocabs.lter-europe.net/envthes" 
    valueURI="http://vocabs.lter-europe.net/EnvThes/20800"
    classificationCode="20800" 
    xml:lang="en">aluminum</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://vocabs.lter-europe.net/EnvThes/20800",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://vocabs.lter-europe.net/envthes",
            "termCode": "20800",
            "name": "aluminum"
        }
    ]
}

FISH Thesaurus of Monument Types

https://collectionstrust.org.uk/resource/thesaurus-of-monument-types-fish

Example term:
http://purl.org/heritagedata/schemes/560/concepts/142104

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="FISH Archaeological Sciences Thesaurus" 
    schemeURI="http://purl.org/heritagedata/schemes/560" 
    valueURI="http://purl.org/heritagedata/schemes/560/concepts/142104"
    classificationCode="142104" 
    xml:lang="en">Archaeomagnetism</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://purl.org/heritagedata/schemes/560/concepts/142104",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "http://purl.org/heritagedata/schemes/560",
            "termCode": "142104",
            "name": "Archaeomagnetism"
        }
    ]
}

GCMD Vocabulary for Earth Science

https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/find-data/idn/gcmd-keywords

Example term:
https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/b3b14df8-5197-4a26-ae61-882fdba706f3

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="GCMD Vocabulary for Earth Science" 
    schemeURI="https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concepts/concept_scheme/sciencekeywords" 
    valueURI="https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/b3b14df8-5197-4a26-ae61-882fdba706f3"
    classificationCode="b3b14df8-5197-4a26-ae61-882fdba706f3" 
    xml:lang="en">FOOD STORAGE</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/b3b14df8-5197-4a26-ae61-882fdba706f3",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concepts/concept_scheme/sciencekeywords",
            "termCode": "b3b14df8-5197-4a26-ae61-882fdba706f3",
            "name": "FOOD STORAGE"
        }
    ]
}

GEMET – General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus

http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/

Example term:
http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/1500

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="GEMET General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus" 
    schemeURI="http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet" 
    valueURI="http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/1500"
    classificationCode="1500" 
    xml:lang="en">coal</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/1500",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet",
            "termCode": "1500",
            "name": "coal"
        }
    ]
}

ICD-10 – International Classification of Diseases

https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en

Example term:
https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en#/I20-I25

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="ICD-10 International Classification of Diseases" 
    schemeURI="https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/" 
    valueURI="https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en#/I20-I25"
    classificationCode="I20-I25" 
    xml:lang="en">Ischaemic heart diseases</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en#/I20-I25",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/",
            "termCode": "I20-I25",
            "name": "Ischaemic heart diseases"
        }
    ]
}

INSPIRE glossary

https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary

Example term:
http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary/Aqueduct

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="INSPIRE glossary" 
    schemeURI="http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary" 
    valueURI="http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary/Aqueduct"
    classificationCode="Aqueduct" 
    xml:lang="en">Aqueduct</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/glossary/Aqueduct",
            "termCode": "Aqueduct",
            "name": "Aqueduct"
        }
    ]
}

LCSH – Library of Congress Subject Headings

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/

Example term:
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009009655

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)" 
    schemeURI="https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/" 
    valueURI="https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009009655"
    classificationCode="sh2009009655" 
    xml:lang="en">Climate change mitigation</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009009655",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/",
            "termCode": "sh2009009655",
            "name": "Climate change mitigation"
        }
    ]
}

MeSH – Medical Subject Headings

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

Example term:
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D003069

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject 
    subjectScheme="MeSH Medical Subject Headings" 
    schemeURI="http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh" 
    valueURI="http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D003069"
    classificationCode="D003069" 
    xml:lang="en">Coffee</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D003069",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh",
            "termCode": "D003069",
            "name": "Coffee"
        }
    ]
}

NASA Thesaurus / NASA STI Thesaurus

https://sti.nasa.gov/nasa-thesaurus

SSIF 2025 – Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2025

https://www.scb.se/dokumentation/klassifikationer-och-standarder/standard-for-svensk-indelning-av-forskningsamnen/

Example usage 
<subjects>
    <subject
    subjectScheme="Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2025"
    schemeURI="https://begrepp.uka.se/SSIF/"
    classificationCode="105"
    valueURI="https://begrepp.uka.se/SSIF/105"
    xml:lang="en">Earth and Related Environmental Sciences</subject>
</subjects>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "keywords": [
        {
            "@type": "DefinedTerm",
            "@id": "https://begrepp.uka.se/SSIF/105",
            "inDefinedTermSet": "https://begrepp.uka.se/SSIF/",
            "termCode": "105",
            "name": "Earth and Related Environmental Sciences"
        }
    ]
}

Geography

Geonames

Commonly used identifier service for countries, regions, cities, and other places.

Examples:
https://sws.geonames.org/2661886/ - Sweden
https://sws.geonames.org/2699050/ - Kronoberg
https://sws.geonames.org/2701727/- Karlshamn

Example usage 
<geoLocations>
    <geoLocation>
        <geoLocationPlace>Sweden</geoLocationPlace>
    </geoLocation>
</geoLocations>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "spatialCoverage": {
        "@type": "Place",
        "@id": "https://sws.geonames.org/2661886/",
        "name": "Sweden",
        "identifier": "SE"
    }
}

Language

Use ISO 639-3 language codes.
Examples: eng, deu, swe

Example usage 
<language>eng</language>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "inLanguage": {
        "@type": "Language",
        "name": "Swedish",
        "identifier": "swe"
    }
}

License

For recommendations on open licenses and marks in a Swedish context, see the following summary by Digg:
Rekommendation om öppna licenser och immaterialrätt

SPDX License List

Examples:
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Example usage 
<rightsList>
    <rights 
    ml:lang="en" 
    schemeURI="https://spdx.org/licenses/" 
    rightsIdentifierScheme="SPDX" 
    rightsIdentifier="CC0-1.0" 
    rightsURI="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">
    Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal</rights>
</rightsList>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"
}

Dataset type

To mark a specific type of dataset, the EU Vocabulary Dataset Type provides a way to classify a dataset as syntetic data, test data etc.

A good use case for providing a dataset type is to mark syntetic datasets.

Example for syntetic data 
<resourceType resourceTypeGeneral="Dataset">SYNTHETIC_DATA</resourceType>

{
    "@context":"https://schema.org/",
    "@type": "Dataset",
    "additionalType": "http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/dataset-type/SYNTHETIC_DATA"
}