Research is rarely limited to a single contributor performing a single role. Behind every research output are people contributing in various ways: software development, data analyses, methodology design, and much more. Often, the same person contributes in several of these ways. Until now, Crossref metadata could only capture part of that picture, but this is changing with Schema 5.5.
Crossref Schema 5.5 includes several improvements across different content types, but its most significant enhancement is the expanded support for contributor roles through the introduction of multiple roles per contributor, option to specify the corresponding author, and compatibility with the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy): a community-owned taxonomy of 14 contributor roles, which has been adopted and made available in multiple languages.
These enhancements allow members to describe research contributions in much greater detail, creating richer metadata that better reflects how research is actually produced, and supporting greater accountability and more comprehensive research assessment.
If your workflow already distinguishes between different kinds of contributions, Schema 5.5 gives you a way to record that detail more accurately using the CRediT taxonomy values. CRediT can be adopted gradually, where it fits your editorial or production workflow.
Figure 1: Until now, contributors could be assigned a single contributor role using Crossref’s existing contributor role vocabulary. In Schema 5.5, members can indicate that the same contributor was responsible for different roles, such as corresponding author; writing: reviewing and editing; and data curation.
Existing deposits remain fully supported, and members can continue using the current contributor role attribute while planning implementation of the new repeatable role type element. For our members, who have been using CRediT in their workflows already, as ever – we encourage updating your metadata when practicable.
This update gives more accurate credit to all of the people behind research outputs. Crossref vocabulary includes roles that aren’t recognised in CRediT, and vice versa. Capturing richer contributor metadata recognises contributions that may not be visible in a single author line and improves transparency around how research is produced, thereby enabling downstream systems to interpret that information more reliably. The update also offers better interoperability with CRediT, which is well recognised across the scholarly ecosystem.
Figure 2: Schema 5.5 is an expansion of Crossref contributor metadata. Members can describe contributors using Crossref’s existing contributor role vocabulary, as well as the internationally recognised CRediT taxonomy.
In turn, this strengthens metadata reuse across repositories, discovery services, funders, institutions and other infrastructure providers; and supports evaluation, reporting and discovery workflows. Better contributor metadata strengthens the connections that make up the Research Nexus.
Beyond the expanded contributor support, Schema 5.5 includes several additional enhancements across the metadata schema.
Support has been added for metadata elements that were previously missing from report series records, including Crossmark, funding, and licence information.
Posted content includes preprints, eprints, and other types of content that have been posted to a stewarded host platform. We’re all about persistence, so it’s vital that everything registered with us be maintained. Note that accepted manuscripts are not considered posted content. Schema 5.5 refreshes posted content sub-types by introducing blog and poster.
At the same time, we are “retiring” working paper, dissertation, and report from posted-content sub-types. Over time, these have been developed into separate record types that benefit from richer, dedicated schemas.
Finally, archive locations can now also be included for posted content records.
A new archive location, CINES, has been added to the list of supported archive providers.
Clinical trial information is no longer limited to journal articles and conference papers. Schema 5.5 extends support across additional content types, including books, datasets, dissertations, reports, posted content, standards, and pending publications.
Taken together, the updates in our latest schema support more holistic recognition of contributions to the research and its communication, as well as greater accountability and integrity in related processes.
To support gradual adoption, Schema 5.5 maintains backwards compatibility with existing deposits. Members can continue using the current contributor_role attribute while preparing to implement the new repeatable role element. We have prepared a migration guide to help members transition to Schema 5.5.
As you prepare to adopt Schema 5.5, we encourage members to include contributor roles whenever they are available from editorial workflows and to use recognised vocabularies consistently, including CRediT roles where appropriate.
Share your feedback on the new Crossref Member Practices
2026 August 10
Schema 5.5 now available: adding CRediT, new record types for blogs and posters, and more
2026 July 09
