FAIRsharing record for: FAIR Metric – F3 – Metadata - uses common formats to reference data identifier(s)

This FAIRsharing record describes: ### What is being measured?
This metric evaluates whether the metadata record (structured as one of a specified list of common formats) explicitly includes the identifier of the research object it describes.

### Why should we measure it?

F3 requires that metadata include the identifier of the research object it describes. To align with FAIR, if a metadata record is separated from its associated research object (which is common in harvesting and indexing), the connection between them must be explicitly preserved. This metric is concerned with the explicit linkage aspect of FAIR; F3 ensures that a machine-actionable relationship exists, allowing harvesters to unambiguously navigate from a descriptive metadata record back to the research object itself. Because many research objects cannot be arbitrarily extended to include references to their metadata, in many cases the only means to discover the metadata related to a research object will be to search based on the identifier of the research object itself.
While Principle F1 focuses on the qualities of the identifier schema being used (globally unique, persistent and resolvable), Principle F3 relates to the linkage aspects of the research object identifier. It does not mandate that the identifier of the research object within the metadata record be immediately resolvable; rather, it requires that the identifier is present, and formally structured so that the relationship can be maintained and indexed by automated services.
The discovery of a research object should be possible from its metadata. For this to happen, the metadata must explicitly contain the identifier for the digital resource it describes, and this should be present in the form of a qualified reference. This metric evaluates whether the identifier provided as input resolves to metadata that contains a research object identifier. Further, that research object identifier must be distinguished from the numerous other fields and values that will be present in the metadata via one of the following formats: schema.org JSON-LD format, DataCite XML, DC XML.