Metadata collection – introducing the new version of OpenEdition’s OAI-PMH repository
OpenEdition has released version 2 of its OAI-PMH repository. Users are invited to harvest the contents of this new version developed as part of the I-FAIR-IR project. Version 1 of the repository will remain available until it is closed down on June 2025.
The OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol is used to harvest metadata from content publishers through a database, an aggregator or a search engine. It is a long-standing, tried and tested protocol that is still very popular in the world of scholarly publishing.
The idea is simple: a content publisher provides an ‘OAI-PMH repository’ as described in the protocol. The repository is then used by clients via applications called ‘OAI-PMH harvesters’.
OpenEdition’s OAI-PMH repository is harvested by the search engines Isodore (https://isidore.science) and GoTriple (https://www.gotriple.eu), the OpenAIRE (https://www.openaire.eu) platform, and service providers for libraries, such as Worldcat (https://worldcat.org) and Ebsco Discovery Service.
The new version was released in June. Following a few months of testing by partners and feedback from users, OAI-PMH repository v2 has become the new official version. The previous version (v1) is now “obsolete”.
- OpenEdition OAI-PMH repository v2 (Official): https://metadata.openedition.org/oai
- OpenEdition OAI-PMH repository v1 (Obsolete): https://oai.openedition.org
The new repository offers several improvements:
- Use of handles for OAI-PMH identifiers
- The use of these persistent identifiers allows the OAI repository to manage deleted documents (deleted documents are flagged up in the OAI).
- It is compatible with OpenAIRE v4 (a rich and detailed format)
- The following metadata formats are available:
- oai_dc: Dublin Core (meets OpenAIRE Guidelines for Literature Repositories v3)
- oai_openaire: OpenAIRE Guidelines for Literature Repository Managers v4
- mods: Metadata Object Description Schema
- mets: Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard
Please note that the OAI-PMH identifiers in version 2 are not the same as those in version 1. If you are a harvester and use such identifiers in your database, you will probably need to delete existing records and retrieve the new identifiers from version 2 of the OAI-PMH repository.
We were able to release this new version of the OAI-PMH repository thanks to the I-FAIR-IR project, through which we improved the management of persistent identifiers and user licenses for all documents published on our platforms.
For more information
- View documentation on the OAI-PMH repository
- About the migration from v1 to v2
- Contact: referencement[at]openedition.org
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
OpenEdition team (December 20, 2024). Metadata collection – introducing the new version of OpenEdition’s OAI-PMH repository. Open Electronic Publishing. Retrieved February 13, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/132ni