Proposal for data template in ReDIF

This proposal is open for discussion and evolves following input from discussion participants. It should be able to encompass any data in economics that would need to be described. The proposal follows the basic logic and syntax of other template types as defined in ReDIF version 1 and will be included in ReDIF once finalized.

Mandatory fields

Template-Type: ReDIF-Data 1.0

Every record needs to start with this declaration

Handle

This unique identifier follows the same format as for other items in ReDIF: it is of the form RePEc:aaa:bbbbbb:cccc, where RePEc is the authority, aaa is the archive (3 letters), bbbbbb is the series (six letters or digits), and cccc is a string of letters, digits and some other allowed charachters.

Name

Name of the data object. Free form.

Datatype

From pre-determined list: time-series, cross-section, panel, ...

Optional fields

Description

Similar to an abstract for publication items, this one paragraph gives a overview of what the data object is. Call it abstract for consistency?. Optional because the name along with other fields may be a sufficient description.

Number

A mnemonic you would like users to use in referring to this data.

Creator-(ORGANIZATION*)

If different from the provider mentioned in the series template, information about who put the dataset together is relevant. As for the provider, its syntax follows the organization cluster. This could also be a person

Keywords

Any term that could be useful for the discovery of this item.

File-(FILE*)

This cluster is already defined in ReDIF but is repeated here for clarity. It gives information about where the data can be obtained (File-URL) and if there are restrictions (File-Restriction). This also handles versioning, as this field can be repeated, with versioning information in the File-Function field. This nomenclature is consistent with existing definitions in ReDIF. File-Format needs to follow Mime definitions. File-Size may be useful to warn for large files.

Frequency-Data

Either free form or from a controlled list (occasional, decadal, tri-annual, biannual, annual, semiannual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly...).

Frequency-Update

Either free form or from a controlled list (occasional, decadal, tri-annual, biannual, annual, semiannual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly...).

Update-Date

Date of last update, follows format YYYY[-MM[-DD]] or YYYY[MM[DD]].

Range-Start

Range-End

For time series and panels, following the usual date format.

Entity-Class

This is for the unit of analysis. This can be a geography (country, province, metropolitan ares)

Entity-Name

The actual name of the entity if it applicable (for example for a time-series, or for a cross-section the scope of the data). Examples: US GDP would have Entity-Class: US and Entity-Name: United States. The area of chinese provinces would have Entity-Class: Province and Entity-Name: China. This could be organized very differently

Article-Handle, Book-Handle, Chapter-Handle, Paper-Handle, Software-Handle

Handle of related item already listed in RePEc

Price

If there is a non-zero price, state it here.

Notification

How to learn about updates.

Documentation

A link to further documentation about the data.

Contact-Email

If this is different from defined in the series template.

Note

Anything else that does not fit.

Fields that you may have expected

Access policy

This information can be provided under File-Restriction, if there is any restriction, to be consistent with pother template types.