NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration    + Visit NASA.gov
+ Contact the NASA Curator

NASA Core Metadata Specification


Field Name Element Name and Namespace Data Type or Source
Definition Comment
Title dc:title String
A name given to the resource.  
Creator dc:creator String
Name of an entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource.  
Creator Affiliation dc:creator.affiliation  
Name of the organization employing a creator. Provided to allow browsing by 'organization', so we can capture organizational affiliation when there are multiple authors with different affiliations. If all authors work for the organization named in the publisher field, then this data can be omitted.
Subject dc:subject Values come from taxonomy: NASA Subject Categories.
The topic of the content of the resource.  
Description dc:description String
An account of the content of the resource.  
Publisher dc:publisher Values come from taxonomy: NASA Organizations.
An entity responsible for making the resource available.  
Date dc:date Date, use format yyyy-mm-dd
Date the resource was 'published'. For browsing by date, a simple publication date is all that is needed.
Type dc:type Values come from taxonomy: NASA Content Types.
The nature or genre of the content of the resource.  
Format dc:format String conforming to Internet Media Types (e.g. application/pdf).
File format of the resource.  
Identifier dc:identifier String
URL or other document identifiers for the resource.  
Coverage dc:coverage Values come from taxonomy: NASA Locations.
Spatial location(s) that are a topic of the resource.  
Audience dcterms:audience Values come from taxonomy: NASA Audiences.
A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful.  
Access Controls dcterms:accessControls Values come from taxonomy: NASA Access Controls, based on NPR 1450.10D (for Classified) Section 8and NPR 1600.1 (NASA Security Program Procedural Requirements), Section 5.24, and discussions with the NASA Taxonomy Team.
This vocabulary is not intended for designing systems. It is intended to be used to mark individual information items so that their access can be controlled properly when they are moved between systems. For selecting the proper access controls when designing information systems, see NASA NPR 2810 and NASA IS-SOP-0019B.  
Language dc:language String conforming to RFC 3066
Human language(s) of the content of the resource.  
Rights dc:rights String
Information about rights held in and over the resource. Typically this is a copyright statement.
Missions and Projects nasa:missionsProjects Values come from taxonomy: NASA Missions and Projects
Names of missions and/or projects that are a topic of the content of the resource.  
Workforce Competencies nasa:workforceCompetencies Values come from taxonomy: NASA Workforce Competencies, which was derived from : NASA Workforce Competency Dictionary, revision 6a, published April 17, 2006.
Names of vocational or technical specialties that are relevant to the content of the resource.  
Instruments nasa:instruments Values come from taxonomy: NASA Instruments, based on PDS Instrument class hierarchy.
Names of instruments and/or platforms that are a topic of the content of the resource.  
Business Purpose nasa:businessPurpose Values come from taxonomy: NASA Business Purposes, adapted from NASA AFS (Archive Filing System).
Names of business purposes for which the content of the resource was prepared.  
Work Breakdown Structure nasa:workBreakdownStructure Values come from taxonomy: NASA Work Breakdown Structure.
Standard work breakdown structures for NASA flight systems and ground support. String
Keywords nasa:keywords String
Descriptors for the content for which no equivalent exists in any of the controlled vocabularies.