Akash (Oct 22 2024 at 14:44): Akash (Oct 22 2024 at 14:44):Hi team, is it possible to fully replace the citation metadata with a custom version? I followed the steps in the documentation here: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/latest/admin/metadatacustomization.html to load and enable my custom metadata, but I noticed that the citation metadata is still a required metadata block. Is there a way to disable this and only use the custom one?
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 16:40):@Akash hi, no, we don't recommend that. In the doc you found we say this:
"Generally speaking it is safer to create your own custom metadata block rather than editing metadata blocks that ship with the Dataverse Software, because changes to these blocks may be made in future releases. If you’d like to make improvements to any of the metadata blocks shipped with the Dataverse Software, please open an issue at https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues so it can be discussed before a pull request is made."
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 16:40):Maybe you can help us improve the citation block? Are there additional fields you need?
Akash (Oct 22 2024 at 17:52):Thanks for the response @Philip Durbin 🐉. I'll go ahead and create an issue for this. I'd like to include additional fields that provide more detailed descriptions of accessibility, provenance, spatial resolutions, and dataset update frequency.
Akash (Oct 22 2024 at 17:53):Also, I may have overlooked this in the documentation, but is it possible to modify field descriptions for the citation fields using the UI or API? Additionally, is there an option to completely hide certain fields when creating a new dataset? I noticed that the Dataverse edit feature allows you to set fields as "required" or "optional," but it doesn't provide an option to hide them completely
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 18:25):Field descriptions... you mean the tooltips when you hover over the "?". "The main title of the dataset"?
Yes, you can create a custom Bundle.properties file. We only document this under "internationalization", I believe. Please see https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.4/installation/config.html#internationalization
Sherry Lake (Oct 22 2024 at 18:29):You can hide non-required fields (fields which do not have "Required by Dataverse").
The citation block by default is inherited from its parent dataverse (collection).
From Collection page - "Edit -> General Information"
Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 2.25.52 PM.png
If you uncheck the parent collection, then you can make "non Dataverse required" fields hidden.
Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 2.25.22 PM.png
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 18:34):Yes, exactly. Thanks, Sherry.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 18:35):@Akash we do have a provenance feature, but it's at the file level: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.4/user/dataset-management.html#data-provenance
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 22 2024 at 18:37):Also, if we're going to add fields to the citation block, we should see what @Julian Gautier thinks. :grinning:
Akash (Oct 23 2024 at 06:58):Thanks @Philip Durbin 🐉 and @Sherry Lake!
Akash (Oct 23 2024 at 06:59):@Philip Durbin 🐉 Yes, that's correct—editing the tooltips. I don't see an option to modify these in the internalization link you provided (which seems mostly focused on language customizations)
Akash (Oct 23 2024 at 07:00):I wanted to confirm whether it's possible to display certain citation fields during dataset creation without making them "required." For example, fields like Alternative URL, Language, and Time Period currently only show up when editing the metadata later, but I’d prefer to have the option to include them during the initial metadata entry
Akash (Oct 23 2024 at 07:00):Additionally, is it possible to modify the fieldType for citation fields? For example, the Time Period field currently only accepts values in the YYYY-MM-DD format. In some cases, we only have the year for the dataset, and I’d prefer to display just the year in those cases
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 23 2024 at 13:06):@Akash for editing tooltips, I kicked off a new topic here: #docs > changing text in the UI
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 23 2024 at 13:07):Please see displayoncreate at https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.4/admin/metadatacustomization.html
You can change this to true and reload the metadata block.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 23 2024 at 13:08):@Alexis Guanche is working on a related feature here: Ensure Visibility of Non-Required Metadata Blocks on Dataset Creation #10476
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 23 2024 at 13:09):As for fieldType and YYYY-MM-DD vs. YYYY I know that @Vera Clemens has been thinking about this stuff (including BC) dates at https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/pull/10887
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Oct 23 2024 at 13:10):We can create as many topics as we like here in Zulip. It might make it easier to go deeper on this or that thing.
Julian Gautier (Oct 23 2024 at 19:38):I see the convo has kind of branched off since I was mentioned here but I just wanna answer @Philip Durbin 🐉 and say that I agree with the gist of what's been said already, which I think can be summed up as "it depends on the changes". And sometimes it's not clear what changes are supported and what support means.
In another GitHub issue where we wrote about different sorts of changes to the metadata that ships with Dataverse, I wrote that we can do a better job of setting expectations about what Dataverse is and isn't currently capable of, and I'd add here that it's also important that it's easy for folks to learn about what Dataverse will be capable of, like all of those plans Phil mentioned and linked to.
Akash (Oct 28 2024 at 05:32):Thank you, @Philip Durbin 🐉 and @Julian Gautier! This is really helpful and clear. I’m seeing that, for the most part, it makes sense to stick with the customizations outlined in the documentation for our use cases
Last updated: Nov 01 2025 at 14:11 UTC