Introduction to Metadata in the Physical Sciences
Metadata is often described as "data about data". It describe the who, what, where, when, how, and why of your research data enabling others to understand it and know what they can do with it.
Metadata is important in the physical sciences for:
- Managing and navigating data
- Findability and discoverability of data
- Integration and interoperability of data
- Data-driven research
- Reproducibility of data
- Collaboration, sharing, and reuse of data
- Longevity of data
When you upload your data to a repository you may be asked to provide metadata in a particular format. There are also standards for different kinds of metadata that can be helpful for describing your research. See the links in the What to do next section for more information about different types of metadata, and various types of metadata standards that are used to gain consistency in certain domains.
What to do next
Related links: See the links below to information about controlled vocabularies and standards in the physical sciences community:
- Creator: Cerys Willoughby
- Last modified date: 2025-11-21
- License: CC-BY-4.0
- Citation: Please cite: Cerys Willoughby, Introduction to Metadata in the Physical Sciences, https://guidance.psdi.ac.uk/docusaurus-pages/docs/guidance/metadata/metadata-for-ps/, PSDI (modified 2025-11-21)
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