Recommended fields
The more detailed information you can provide about items in your collection, the easier it will be for researchers to search for and discover your content. Your data powers search, browsing, and discovery on JSTOR.
Download Metadata Template (XLS)
To maximize the discoverability of your collections on JSTOR, we recommend including at minimum the following fields in your metadata spreadsheet when creating your collection:
- Contributor
- Title
- Date
- Description
- Subject(s)
- Location
These fields will be automatically mapped to corresponding fields used in search and filtering/faceting search results on JSTOR. See Auto-mapped fields for details.
Auto-mapped fields
When you import your metadata spreadsheet, the system will automatically map certain columns to fields in JSTOR based on your column headers. The table below can be used to preview how your fields will be mapped and how to achieve a specific display label if desired.
For example: If you'd like the Contributor field in your photography collection to be labeled "Photographer" on JSTOR, ensure the corresponding column header in your spreadsheet is named either "Photographer" or "Photographers".
| JSTOR Field | Metadata Spreadsheet Column Header | JSTOR Display Label |
|---|---|---|
| Contributor | Author(s) | Author |
| Agent(s) | Contributor | |
| Artist(s) | ||
| Architect(s) | ||
| Builder(s) | ||
| Contributor(s) | ||
| Creator(s) | Creator | |
| Interviewer(s) | Interviewer | |
| Interviewee(s) | Interviewee | |
| Performer(s) | Performer | |
| Photographer(s) | Photographer | |
| Speaker(s) | Speaker | |
| Title | Title(s) |
Title Also displays as header on item page. |
| Date | Earliest Date | Not displayed, but used for sorting and filtering. |
| Latest Date | ||
| Date(s) | Date | |
| Display Date | ||
| Image Date | ||
| Temporal Coverage | Temporal Coverage | |
| Time Range | ||
| Description | Description | Description |
| Descriptions | ||
| Notes | ||
| Duration | Duration | Duration |
| Location | Creation | Creation Site |
| Creation Site | ||
| Country | ||
| Countries | ||
| Place(s) | ||
| Creation Discovery Site | Creation/Discovery Site | |
| Discovery Site | Discovery Site | |
| Elevation | Elevation | |
| Latitude | Latitude | |
|
Location(s) |
Location | |
| Longitude | Longitude | |
| Publisher Location | Publisher Location | |
| Coverage | Spatial Coverage | |
| Spatial Coverage | ||
| Subject | Subject(s) | Subjects |
| File Name | Filename(s) | File Name |
| File Name(s) | ||
| Path | ||
| Media |
Multiple matching columns
If multiple columns match an auto-mapped field, only the first matching column in the spreadsheet will be mapped to the field, and the remaining matching columns will be imported as custom fields.
For example: If your spreadsheet contains a "Location" column and a "Discovery Site" column, only the "Location" column will be mapped to Location for searching and filtering results on JSTOR. The "Discovery Site" column will be imported as a custom field labeled "Discovery Site", and will be searchable only.
The exception to this is if multiple columns share the same column header exactly. In which case, their values will be combined on import. See Multiple values within a field for more information.
Custom fields
Additional columns in your metadata spreadsheet that don't correspond with one of the auto-mapped fields will be imported as custom fields in your collection.
- Custom fields are searchable on JSTOR, but not used when sorting or filtering results as with the Date or Location fields, for example.
- The column header or name will be used as the display label for custom fields on the item page on JSTOR.
Date fields
The Date field is used for both display on the item page (with the exceptions of Earliest Date and Latest Date) and when searching, sorting, and filtering results on JSTOR. Since the Date field is a text field, you may enter your item date(s) in any format.
Multiple values within a field
If you have items with multiple values for a single field you wish to be listed separately on JSTOR, there are two ways to achieve this:
-
Use pipe-delimited values - Separate your values with a pipe (|) character.
- For example: Garden & Landscape|Horticulture|Flowers in the "Subject" column will be parsed as three separate subject headings on JSTOR.
-
Use multiple columns - Multiple columns with the same column header will be combined into a single field on import.
- For example: Two columns, both named "Title", will be combined into a single Title field on import, and their values will appear on separate lines under the "Title" field on JSTOR.
Editing or removing fields in a collection
At this time, it's not possible to edit or remove fields from a collection after its initial creation in Tier 1. You can, however, edit an individual item's metadata and/or add new metadata fields to your collection. See Adding, editing, and deleting items [Tier 1] for more information.