Updating Metadata through the Admin Tool after importing into Metadata Manager

Hi, from this blog post I learned that I could import our journal’s articles uploaded via the Admin tool into the Metadata Manager for further enrichment.

Once an article is added to the Metadata Manager, is it still possible to update its record through the Admin Tool? That is to say: When I have imported an article in the metadata manager, and upload an XML with additional information through the Admin Tool, will that record in the Metadata Manager be updated with that information? Or are the two processes distinct and do later uploads to the Admin Tool not affect the data that the Metadata Manager holds?

Thanks for your help in grasping the data store and potential workflows for these two!
Erwin

Hi Erwin,

Thanks for your post and it’s a good question as it is a bit of a tricky one.

In theory you can update the article in Metadata Manager after an update in the Admin Tool but it would require the article to be removed and then re-added to the Metadata Manager workspace for the updates to be reflected.
Normally people don’t tend to use both methods so closely as if you can use the Admin Tool and create XML the there is less need to use Metadata Manager, which was initially created as a tool to improve the content registration process for those members who cannot create their own XML. Metadata Manager does have some limitations (such as this) and we are currently pausing development on it after having learnt from these, the features from it will be reimagined and improved as part of our future Member Centre, you can read more about this in our recent blog post.

I hope that helps!

Thanks,

Vanessa

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Thank you for your response, @Vanessa.

The workflow we had foreseen was to upload the XMLs we have (a mixture of migrated data from DataCite and fresh OJS exports) with as complete as possible information via the Admin Tool. The step to add citations, however, seemed to be one that is plenty faster when done via the Metadata Manager, hence our desire to mix 'n match both tools, regardless of our adeptness at raw XML editing.

Your answer does clarify the metadata manager’s development path. I am a bit confused by the update status though, as articles in the Metadata Manager can have different statuses.

  • The article I had already imported was still in Draft stage in the MM, so I removed it after having updated it from the Admin Tool.
  • But what if an article was already Accepted in the Metadata Manager? Would the situation remain as you advice - easily removed from the Metadata Manager even if information such as citations was added there, without losing information?

Much thanks for your insight,
Erwin

Hello Erwin,

The draft status in Metadata Manager only refers to the status in MM itself. So it will remain as draft until it is deposited through Metadata Manager and accepted. Once it says accepted in Metadata Manager it means it has been deposited through MM and the references should have been updated in the system as well (providing the deposit went through with no errors).

You would only need to remove the article from the Metadata Manager workspace if you are planning on updating again using the admin tool. If the admin tool is only going to be used for the initial registration then you can leave the article in Metadata Manager as ‘accepted’ and then if changes are made in there you can see the status change to draft meaning it needs a redeposit.

I hope this helps and if you have any further question or queries on this then please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Many thanks,
Paul

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Hi Erwin,

Alternatively, if you are only adding references to the metadata you have registered using an XML upload to the admin tool, you can also use our Simple Text Query form, which might be less convoluted than the Metadata Manage-related process Vanessa and Paul have described above.

You can learn more about adding references to your existing DOIs using the Simple Text Query form here: https://www.crossref.org/education/retrieve-metadata/simple-text-query/#00392

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Hi Isaac, one more question, if I may: Do you have example workflows of how other journals use these in their deposit process? Do journal managers typically hand code the citations in their XMLs or is there a way to (semi-)automate the process?

Much thanks,
Erwin

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Thanks for following up, Erwin.

There are a couple of different workflows that our members use to register their content with us.

  1. Many of our members will work with a third-party vendor to extract their metadata (e.g., from PDFs). Those vendors will then prepare the XML in accordance with the Crossref schema. Before joining Crossref, I worked with a member-publisher and this is what we did. Thus, we didn’t hand code the citations in our XML, our vendors did that for us.

  2. A large number of our smaller members who don’t have the resources of a large- or middle-sized member-publisher will use a combination of the web deposit form and the Simple Text Query form that I mentioned above to key in the metadata and have our helper tools create the XML for your deposit. You may also consider using Metadata Manager, our newest helper tool, to accomplish this. That said, it does require keying in the metadata. Many of our members prefer it, but I should mention that it is in beta, so there are a few kinks we’re still working out.

  3. And, then a much smaller minority of our member-publishers create the XML themselves either using their own internally automated conversion workflow or something more manual.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Kind regards,
Isaac

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