The CodeMeta Project

Introducing CodeMeta

CodeMeta provides a shared, minimal metadata vocabulary for software, designed to support research, discovery, citation, and interoperability across platforms. It is currently being used in major initiatives such as FAIRCORE4EOSC to make research software FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

CodeMeta acts as a vital bridge between these disciplines.

Aiming to solve this problem, CodeMeta was founded in 2016 by a consortium of researchers. Using existing standards such as Schema.org terms and JSON-LD, CodeMeta is now a recognised framework that is employed by a worldwide community of developers, researchers, and archivists.

When used and maintained in code repositories and software distribution systems, CodeMeta enables the exact version of a library or application, that has been used and cited in scientific and other research, to be reliably identified and reused.

Research Software MetaData Guidelines

CodeMeta is suggested for use by the following Research Software MetaData Guidelines recommendations:

RSMD 1.5: Keep the machine readable intrinsic metadata information in a single source file, and automatically generate other file formats [...]; Useful

RSMD 4.1: Add software name and description of the software's functionality and purpose [...]; Essential

RSMD 4.2: Add descriptive metadata for classification purposes embedded in the code [...]; Important

RSMD 4.3: Cite related resources (e.g journal articles) describing the software with a persistent identifier or stable URL [...]; Important

RSMD 4.4: Add descriptive metadata of the software in a machine readable format [...]; Important

RSMD 5.1: Add intrinsic metadata about authors, this information can be captured in a human readable format [...]; Essential

Why CodeMeta? — Key Use Cases

Enabling Reliable Software Citation: Consistent software citation remains a challenge in scholarly communication. CodeMeta supports structured metadata that enables software to be cited, indexed, and credited correctly. This aspect is highlighted by FAIRCORE4EOSC’s integration of CodeMeta into software archival and citation workflows.
Standardizing Software Metadata: Software metadata is often scattered across incompatible formats and tools. CodeMeta defines a common, machine-readable vocabulary (JSON-LD) that enables software metadata to be shared consistently across repositories, registries, and platforms — making it possible for large infrastructures like EOSC to standardize metadata at scale.
Improving Discovery and Reuse: By using a common metadata schema, software becomes easier to discover both by humans and machines. CodeMeta metadata in APIs and connectors improve interoperability, discovery and sharing of research software across repositories and services.
Supporting Interoperability Between Systems: CodeMeta acts as a “metadata exchange layer” linking diverse systems. This enables metadata to flow between repositories, publishers and aggregators, improving exchange and integration without bespoke converters.
Enhancing Transparency and Reproducibility: Clear software metadata helps others understand what software does, how it was created, and how it can be used — which is critical for reproducible science. Users can now leverage standardized metadata for archiving, describing, and citing software artifacts in a FAIR-compliant ecosystems.

Learn more: For a full list of CodeMeta use cases

See: Full list of CodeMeta use cases
See also:FAIRCORE4EOSC – Core Components for a FAIR EOSC

Connecting via Crosswalks

Repositories, software languages, and scientific domains often have different vocabularies for their metadata. Our Crosswalks exist to provide a reliable path to interoperability. By mapping each of these formats to CodeMeta via a Crosswalk, CodeMeta acts as a translation layer for data to be converted freely, preserving information that would otherwise be lost.

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