# Metadata and provenance

Because workflows are a self-documenting analysis pipeline viewable from any web browser they can be a powerful tool for sharing work in a public forum. Whether you're sharing your work with collaborators or with the world it's helpful to fully document how your your workflow was created and  make it clear how it should be properly cited.

Navigate to the workflow overview by clicking on the workflow title in the top bar, or clicking anywhere on the background of the workflow tree in the left pane.

## Metadata

Workflows contain supporting information to aid in understanding the analysis performed and provide context for how it was built. A workflow may have some or all of the following metadata provided by its editors:

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="189.82421875"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Abstract</strong></td><td>The abstract is limited to 256 characters and will show up in previews and search results for the dataset. This should be a concise, high-level summary of this dataset.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Methodology</strong></td><td>Document the details of your research aim or data analysis strategy. You can also embed links or images.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Study</strong></td><td>You can add your workflow to a <a href="../organizations/studies">study</a> in order to facilitate collaboration with others. For certain restricted datasets, your workflow will need to be part of an approved study in order to run queries. You can also easily share your workflow with everyone in the study.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tags</strong></td><td>You can add up to 25 tags to your workflow, which will help researchers discover and understand it. </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Usage</strong></td><td>You can see the data of last workflow activity, how often the workflow was <a href="..#fork-a-project">forked</a> or viewed (if it is a public workflow).</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Provenance

View and update information about this workflow's creators and contributors, citation, and any related identifiers. Fields are automatically populated based on usage, but can be added or edited by a workflow editor.

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="189.82421875"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Creators</strong></td><td>This section automatically defaults to displaying the owner of the project. Workflow editors can add or remove anyone from this list. Anyone included here will be added to the citation generated for this workflow, in the order provided. </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Contributor</strong></td><td>This section automatically includes anyone who edited this workflow. Workflow editors can add or remove anyone from this list.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Citation</strong></td><td><p>This section shows the automatically generated citation for this workflow in your chosen format. This can be copied or downloaded for use elsewhere.<br></p><p>Changes made to the "Creators" field will be reflected in this citation. Any DOI issued for this workflow will automatically be included in this citation.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Related identifiers</strong></td><td>This section automatically includes any datasets or workflows referenced by this project, including data sources, study collaboration, or what this workflow was forked from. Workflow editors can add any related identifiers from outside of Redivis through links or DOIs, including DMPs, papers referenced, and more.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Bibliography</strong></td><td>You can launch a bibliography which displays the citation of this workflow and all of its related identifiers.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Issue a DOI

Any workflow editor can issue a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for a workflow. A DOI is a persistent identifier that can be used to reference this workflow in citations. DOIs are issued through DataCite and do not require any configuration with your own or your organization's DataCite account.&#x20;

Open the **Provenance** section and click **Issue DOI**. Once created, you will be able to see the DOI and view the record on DataCite.

<figure><img src="https://1672950126-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LVodLwUXgJUGcm5Cvso%2Fuploads%2FOj2VHp97i5ymR9MfXb7w%2FScreenshot%202025-01-23%20at%2012.25.49%E2%80%AFPM_out.png?alt=media&#x26;token=1e0ca927-777c-43f5-b5bf-b8d713ac9be1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Draft status

When DOIs are issued they enter a "Draft" status where the identifier is assigned but it has not been permanently created. All DOIs issued for workflows will remain in this draft status for seven days to allow for removal of the DOI.&#x20;

You can start referencing the DOI immediately while it is still in draft status since the final DOI will not change once it becomes permanent. After the seven day draft period the DOI will automatically become permanent if your workflow is set to be [publicly visible](https://docs.redivis.com/reference/collaboration-and-sharing#public-workflows).&#x20;

Since DOIs are intended for public reference, they will not be issued for workflows that remain fully private.

{% hint style="info" %}
Note that granting public access to a workflow does not grant access to any restricted data it contains. Any individual viewing the workflow will need to also gain data access to see workflow nodes that reference restricted data.
{% endhint %}