The Fairdata Services include the metadata repository Metax which stores the metadata of published research datasets visible in the Fairdata Etsin and the Research.fi portal. It serves as a metadata repository behind other Fairdata services, and it offers an interface (API) via which the metadata can be created and retrieved.
The Metax End User API is available for researchers and other End Users and can be used alongside Fairdata Qvain, a graphical tool for describing and publishing datasets. API allows direct transfer of research dataset descriptions into Metax.
Metax API is also used when organizations want to import metadata directly from organizations’ own research data metadata repositories. Some organizations also retrieve metadata from Metax for their own use.
Launch of the new API version (V3), Phase 1
Metax is undergoing a renovation where the API interface is being renewed. The change will occur gradually throughout this year, and support for the current interface is estimated to continue until around 2025-2026 (to be announced separately).
The first phase of the renewal has now been completed. This phase of the renewal includes the new interface for organizational use to import dataset descriptions from their own metadata repositories. For more information, please refer to the change log.
Renewed version of Metax will utilize CSC’s Pukki database cloud service with which we aim to streamline the setup and ongoing maintenance of the database and its environment, reducing the need for manual operations.
For more information:
What does this mean for API Users?
The visibility of datasets in the Etsin or Tiedejatutkimus.fi portal won’t be affected by the API renewal in any way. Dataset descriptions will appear normally regardless of the version of the interface used for description.
Old API versions (V1/V2) will show also the dataset descriptions created with V3, and until the End User version of V3 is launched later this year, the old API versions should still be used when searching datasets through API.
Organizations
We will contact all existing organizational users separately regarding the adoption of the new API version. If you’re planning to integrate your organization’s dataset descriptions into Metax, it’s advisable to plan it around the new interface. Whenever integration is being planned, please get in touch fairdata@csc.fi. A general description of the integration project: https://wiki.eduuni.fi/x/M5X0Gw
End Users
The change doesn’t require any action from End Users. Their End User API, Etsin, and Qvain usage will continue unchanged. The new API version will be made available to End Users later this year and we will inform about the schedule later.
Has the Metax metadata model also been developed?
The Metax data model is designed to easily accommodate new fields, but in this same renewal, there are minimal new fields being introduced. Some fields might be renamed, though their purpose remains the same.
For more information on the changes to the data model (field by field), please refer to this link: https://metax.fairdata.fi/v3/docs/user-guide/migration/.
