Describing the root entity

Last updated on 2025-04-17 | Edit this page

Overview

Questions

  • How can I describe the crate?
  • How do I specify the license of the RO-Crate?

Objectives

  • Learn about required metadata for the RO-Crate Root
  • Understand license identifiers using SPDX

Describing the root entity

When describing the root entity, the properties generally apply to the whole of the crate. For instance it is a good idea to give a description of why these resources are gathered in a crate, as well as giving the crate a name and license for FAIR reuse and citation.

Add metadata to root entity

Try to add the name, description and datePublished properties, and for license as a cross-reference, use SPDX license list to find the identifier for Creative Commons Zero or another license of your choice:

JSON 

{
  "@id": "./",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "hasPart": [ ],
  "name": "Example crate",
  "description": "I created this example by following the tutorial",
  "datePublished": "2023-05-22T12:03:00+0100",
  "license": { "@id": "http://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0"}  
}

License identifiers

In the above solution, the identifier for CC0-1.0 http://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0 is slightly different from their listed web page URI https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html – the former is chosen to align with SPDX JSON-LD identifiers, which unfortunately are not shown directly on their website as permalinks. It is not a requirement in RO-Crate to use permalinks for @id of entities like licenses, it is nevertheless best practice to propagate permalinks where known.

Choosing a license

Choosing a license appropriate for your dataset can be non-trivial, particularly if third-party data/software and multiple organizations are involved. See FAIR Cookbook on licensing. It is worth noting that an RO-Crate permits data entities to have a license different from the overall Crate license. It is still recommended to choose an overall Crate license that can legally apply across all the content in the RO-Crate Root.

Key Points

  • Name, description, date published and license are required for the RO-Crate Root”
  • RO-Crate allows multiple licenses for different parts