Contributor Roles

Editors, curators, data collectors beyond the creator

Stewardship (S)

Findable (F2), Reusable (R1.2)

Justification

Beyond the primary creator, contributors such as curators, data collectors, and supervisors provide critical provenance context. DataCite Recommends the Contributor property with a rich contributorType vocabulary (DataCurator, DataCollector, Editor, etc.). Dublin Core includes Contributor as one of its 15 core elements. Contributor roles also address RDA-R1.2 provenance requirements.

Practical Guide

good-to-have

List all contributors. Shows team effort and provenance.

Listing contributors beyond the primary creator — curators, data collectors, supervisors — provides critical provenance. The 0.07x citation ratio reflects that multi-contributor datasets tend to be complex, specialized resources. SHARE values this for provenance completeness: knowing who curated, collected, and quality-checked the data builds trust.

Why this signal matters despite the numbers

The 0.07x citation ratio reflects complexity, not poor documentation. Multi-contributor datasets are often large, specialized resources that are harder to reuse but represent higher-quality data stewardship.

For Repositories

Support contributor fields with role types (DataCurator, DataCollector, Editor)
Map to DataCite #7 Contributor with contributorType vocabulary
Prompt depositors to credit all team members

For Depositors

Credit curators, data collectors, and supervisors — not just PI names
Specify roles (DataCurator, DataCollector, Editor) when the repository supports it
Include at least one non-creator contributor if applicable

Adds provenance depth. Low prevalence (8.1%) means most depositors skip it, but it differentiates well-documented datasets.

Standards Sources

Convergence score: 3/4 independent sources —

Well justified

Standard	Field / Property	Obligation Level
DataCite 4.6	#7 Contributor	Recommended
Dublin Core	Contributor	Core Element

FAIR Principle Alignment

Primary mapping: Findable (F2), Reusable (R1.2)

F2: Data are described with rich metadata
R1.2: (Meta)data are associated with detailed provenance

RDA FAIR Data Maturity Model Indicators:

RDA-R1.2-01M: Metadata includes provenance information according to community-specific standards

How This Signal Is Measured

Presence of contributor entries beyond the primary creator, ideally with role types specified. Binary: at least one non-creator contributor listed.

Empirical Evidence (Zenodo, n=1.3M)

Per-signal statistics use Zenodo as the primary validation source because it is the largest general-purpose repository with structured DataCite metadata, natural variance across all 25 signals, and available citation/usage data. Domain-specific repositories exhibit ceiling effects or restricted variance that preclude per-signal discrimination. Cross-repository validation is reported separately.

Prevalence

8.1%

of Zenodo datasets

Citation Lift

0.1x

vs. datasets without

Data Source

Zenodo (CERN)

1,328,100 records analyzed

Interpretation: Complex datasets requiring multiple contributors (curators, data collectors) may be harder to reuse but represent higher-quality data stewardship. The negative lift reflects reuse complexity, not documentation quality.