Identifying metadata commonalities across restricted health data sources: A mixed methods study exploring how to improve the discovery of and access to restricted datasets

Metadata is not an inherent characteristic of restricted data, which limits its ability to be found and used. To better understand discoverability and accessibility of restricted data, this study reviewed restricted health data sources to determine how they describe their datasets and access procedures, what descriptive commonalities exist across data sources, and to what extent the commonalities we found can be accommodated within existing metadata schemas. This project includes analysis from three datasets: the first dataset compiles dataset metadata commonalities that were identified from 48 Canadian restricted health data sources. The second dataset compiles request access and access process metadata commonalities extracted from the same 48 data sources. The third dataset maps metadata commonalities of the first dataset to existing metadata standards including DataCite, DDI-Lifecycle and Codebook, DCAT, and DATS. This mapping exercise was completed to determine whether metadata used by restricted data sources aligned with existing standards for research data for improved discovery in the larger FAIR scientific data ecosystem. Read full article (https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.907)