Feature Request/Idea: As a depositor or curator, I want to describe research objects by choosing values from externally managed vocabularies

[jggautier]

What kind of user is the feature intended for?
(Example users roles: API User, Curator, Depositor, Guest, Superuser, Sysadmin)
Curator, Depositor

What inspired the request?
Managers of repositories that use the JSF version of Dataverse can add code, maintained in a GDCC repository at https://github.com/gdcc/dataverse-external-vocab-support, that changes fields on the dataset deposit form so that curators and depositors can choose values from externally managed vocabularies, such as choosing organizations from the ROR database and and choosing people from the ORCID database. And when users do this, Dataverse records those ORCIDs and RORs.

As part of an NIH GREI funded effort, we implemented this change in Harvard Dataverse with the goal of making data easier to describe and find by increasing the number of ORCIDs and RORs used to describe that data.

And we used usability testing and benchmarking in order to evaluate the success of those changes.

We considered improving the design of those changes for the JSF version of Dataverse by using what we learned from the usability testing and benchmarking in order to make more progress towards our goals. @jggautier opened several GitHub issues to encourage and track discussion about design improvements. But resource constraints and pressure to more quickly replace the JSF version with the Modern UI prevent the IQSS team from making those changes for users of the JSF version of Harvard Dataverse and potentially uses of other repositories using the JSF version of Dataverse.

Instead we've decided to consider those changes as or after we're able to add this functionality for users of the Modern UI.

What existing behavior do you want changed?
The existing behavior is for users of the JSF version of Dataverse and may not (or may not yet) reflect existing behavior of users of the Modern UI

The existing behavior that should change for users of the Modern UI is that when curators and depositors describe their deposits, fields on the deposit form suggest values from external vocabularies, as opposed to "internal" vocabularies or vocabularies that repository managers can configure using Dataverse's metadata block TSV files

While replicating this JSF functionality, we should also consider the design challenges and proposals suggested in these GitHub issues:

• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name and Affiliation fields to encourage more depositors to include ORCIDs and RORs dataverse#12504
• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name and Affiliation fields so that the fields include more information about the suggested names dataverse#12505
• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name, Affiliation fields to help more depositors know they can include information in addition to names when searching for people, organizations dataverse#12506

In addition, we'll need to consider if changes to the Modern UI that involve calls to the ORCID and ROR APIs (and potentially other APIs for accessing vocabularies managed outside of Dataverse) would be managed with an external tool, the way that the external controlled vocabulary scripts are for the JSF version of Dataverse, which is hosted in the GDCC repo with other external tools like certain file previewers, or would be managed as part of the code that ships with the Modern UI. This has governance and modularity implications.

Any open or closed issues related to this feature request?

• Continue evaluation of account page and deposit form redesigns for increasing ORCIDs and other ORCID-related recommendations in GREI Metadata Recommendations V2 dataverse-pm#473
• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name and Affiliation fields to encourage more depositors to include ORCIDs and RORs dataverse#12504
• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name and Affiliation fields so that the fields include more information about the suggested names dataverse#12505
• Feature Request: Redesign the Author Name, Affiliation fields to help more depositors know they can include information in addition to names when searching for people, organizations dataverse#12506

Deliverables

• A design document that is ready for implementation (includes discussion/addressing of external tool governance)
• A new issue for implementing the design (sized, Must Have priority, and added to Sprint Ready)

[cmbz]

2026-07-16: During the design phase, we should also explore MeSH as a use case as well. See: IQSS/dataverse-pm#482.

[ChengShi-1]

2026-07-23: We discussed this issue in our frontend weekly meeting today.

Modern UI could reuse JSF’s existing external vocabulary mechanism, rather than implement service-specific logic for ORCID, ROR, SKOSMOS, or local vocabularies.

JSF uses configuration-driven data-cvoc-* attributes on fields. Existing JavaScript reads these attributes to determine which service and protocol to use, how to call it, and how to map returned values into the form.

Technically, for replicating the mechanism, Modern UI should:

• Render equivalent data-cvoc-* attributes based on configuration.
• Provide the wiring needed for the existing external vocabulary scripts to operate on Modern UI fields.
• Avoid hard-coding vocabulary-service behavior in Modern UI core.

Next, I will inspect the current JSF DOM and config, identify the APIs and configuration Modern UI needs(should know which fields are CVoC-enabled and what attributes to render), and arrange a follow-up walkthrough with Jim.