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Each DSpace metadata field that will be used for the mapping must first be configured as a spring bean of classorg.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.MetadataFieldConfig.

 

Info
iconfalse
    <bean id="dc.title" class="org.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.MetadataFieldConfig">
        <constructor-arg value="dc.title"/>
    </bean>

...


Info
iconfalse
    <util:map id="FullprefixMapping" key-type="java.lang.String" value-type="java.lang.String">
        <description>Defines the namespace mappin for the SimpleXpathMetadatum contributors</description>
        <entry key="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" value="dc"/>
        <entry key="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" value="x"/>
    </util:map>


Then create a new list in the spring configuration containing references to all SimpleXpathMetadatumContributor beans that need to be combined.
 
Info
iconfalse
   <util:list id="combinedauthorList" value-type="org.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.contributor.MetadataContributor" list-class="java.util.LinkedList">
        <ref bean="lastNameContrib"/>
        <ref bean="firstNameContrib"/>
    </util:list>

Finally create a spring bean configuration of classorg.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.contributor.CombinedMetadatumContributor. This bean expects 3 values:

  • field: A reference to the configured spring bean of the DSpace metadata field. e.g. the "dc.title" bean declared above.
  • metadatumContributors: A reference to the list containing all the single record field mappings that need to be combined.
  • separator: These characters will be added between each record field value when they are combined into one field.

Info
iconfalse
    <bean id="authorContrib" class="org.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.contributor.CombinedMetadatumContributor">
        <property name="separator" value=", "/>
        <property name="metadatumContributors" ref="combinedauthorList"/>
        <property name="field" ref="dc.contributor.author"/>
    </bean>

Each contributor must also be added to the "MetadataFieldMap" used by the MetadataFieldMapping implementation. Each entry of this map maps a metadata field bean to a contributor. For the contributors created above this results in the following configuration:

 

Info
iconfalse
    <util:map id="org.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.MetadataFieldConfig"
              value-type="org.dspace.importer.external.metadatamapping.contributor.MetadataContributor">
        <entry key-ref="dc.title" value-ref="titleContrib"/>
        <entry key-ref="dc.contributor.author" value-ref="authorContrib"/>
    </util:map>

...

Available Metadata Contributor classes

ClassDescription
SimpleXpathMetadatumContributorUse an XPath expression to map the XPath result to a metadatum
SimpleMetadataContributorThis contributor is used in plain metadata as exposed above. Mapping is easy because it is based on the key used in the DTO.
CombinedMetadatumContributorUse a LinkedList of MetadataContributor to combine into the value the resulting value for each contributor.


Framework Sources Implementations

PubMed Integration

Introduction

First read the base documentation on external importing (see above). This documentation explains the implementation of the importer framework using PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) as an example.

Publication Lookup URL

To be able to do the lookup for our configured import-service, we need to be able to know what URL to use to check for publications.  This URL the publication-lookup.url setting defined within the [dspace.dir]/config/modules/publication-lookup.cfg.  You may choose to modify this setting or override it within your local.cfg.

This setting can be modified in one of two ways:

  • You can choose to specific a single, specific URL. This will tell the lookup service to only use one location to lookup publication information.  Valid URLs are any that are defined as a baseAddress for beans within the [src]/dspace-api/src/main/resources/spring/spring-dspace-addon-import-services.xml Spring config file.
  • By default, publication-lookup.url is set to an asterisk ('*').  This default value will attempt to lookup the publication using ALL configured importServices in the [src]/dspace-api/src/main/resources/spring/spring-dspace-addon-import-services.xml Spring config file

PubMed Metadata Mapping

The PubMed metadata mappings are defined in the [dspace.dir]/config/spring/api/pubmed-integration.xml Spring configuration file.  These metadata mappings can be tweaked as desired. The format of this file is described in the "Metadata mapping" section above

PubMed specific classes Config

These classes are simply implementations based of the base classes defined in importer/external. They add characteristic behavior for services/mapping for the PubMed specific data.

Metadata mapping classes
  • "PubmedFieldMapping". An implementation of AbstractMetadataFieldMapping, linking to the bean that serves as the entry point of other metadata mapping
  • "PubmedDateMetadatumContributor"/"PubmedLanguageMetadatumContributor". Pubmed specific implementations of the "MetadataContributor" interface
Service classes
  • "GeneratePubmedQueryService". Generates the pubmed query which is used to retrieve the records. This is based on a given item.
  • "PubmedImportMetadataSourceServiceImpl". Child class of "AbstractImportMetadataSourceService", retrieving the records from pubmed.

ArXiv Integration

ArXiv Metadata Mapping

The ArXiv metadata mappings are defined in the [dspace.dir]/config/spring/api/arxiv-integration.xml Spring configuration file.  These metadata mappings can be tweaked as desired. The format of this file is described in the "Metadata mapping" section above.


OpenAlex Integration

DSpace now includes live import functionality using OpenAlex, allowing users to fetch and prefill metadata in real time from the OpenAlex API during the submission process.

Metadata Mapping

The metadata mappings for OpenAlex are defined in the Spring configuration file:

[dspace.dir]/config/spring/api/openalex-integration.xml

OpenAlex has been registered as a LiveImportDataProvider, making it available in the import dropdown when submitting supported entities (e.g., Publications, Persons).

To convert OpenAlex API responses into ImportRecord objects compatible with DSpace, the integration introduces:

  • OpenAlexPublicationFieldMapping

  • OpenAlexPersonFieldMapping

These mapping classes handle the conversion logic for metadata fields used in the submission process.

Supported Entities

The following OpenAlex entities are currently mapped to DSpace entities:

OpenAlex Entity

DSpace Entity

Notes

works

Publication

—

authors

Person

—

sources

Journal

Only if type = "journal"

institutions

OrgUnit

—

publishers

OrgUnit

—

funders

OrgUnit

—

Required Configuration

To enable the integration, you must add the following properties in your dspace.cfg or configuration files:

openalex.url.works = https://api.openalex.org/works
openalex.url.authors = https://api.openalex.org/authors
openalex.url.sources = https://api.openalex.org/sources
openalex.url.institutions = https://api.openalex.org/institutions
openalex.url.publishers = https://api.openalex.org/publishers
openalex.url.funders = https://api.openalex.org/funders

These properties define the OpenAlex API endpoints for each supported entity type.

Backend Service

The class OpenAlexImportMetadataSourceServiceImpl is responsible for fetching metadata from OpenAlex and returning results used in the import process. It is part of the backend infrastructure that powers both the UI import and any REST-based interactions.

How to Use It: Publication Import Example

  1. Log in to DSpace and go to MyDSpace.

  2. Select one of the supported entities (e.g., Publication).
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  3. Choose OpenAlex as the import source from the dropdown.

    1. Search by publication title or OpenAlex author ID (e.g., A1969205037).
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  4. Review the import results and click Start submission on a selected record.
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  5. Select the collection where the item should be deposited.

  6. The item metadata will be prefilled using OpenAlex data. Review and complete the submission as needed.
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