---
generated: '2026-08-30'
method: derived
source: >-
  openapi/university-of-the-witwatersrand-*-openapi.yml (institution-operated WIReDSpace contracts),
  live probes of wiredspace.wits.ac.za, idp.wits.ac.za and api.datacite.org
vocabulary:
  name: University of the Witwatersrand API Vocabulary
  description: >-
    Controlled vocabulary of the terms used across the machine-readable surfaces the University of
    the Witwatersrand actually operates: the WIReDSpace DSpace 9.2 institutional repository (REST and
    OAI-PMH), the Wits SAML identity provider registered in SAFIRE, and the Wits Open Data Vault,
    which is Wits data on a Figshare tenant. Definitions reflect terms verified live against the
    deployments. Terms that belonged to the Figshare v2 API contract rather than to Wits (Article,
    Defined Type) were removed on 2026-08-30 together with that vendor contract.
  version: "1.1.0"
  terms:
    - term: Community
      definition: >-
        A top-level or nested DSpace container that organizes collections,
        typically aligned to a faculty, school, or research grouping at Wits.
      tags: [dspace, wiredspace, container]
    - term: Collection
      definition: >-
        A DSpace container holding items (records) within a community.
      tags: [dspace, wiredspace, container]
    - term: Item
      definition: >-
        An individual DSpace record (e.g. a thesis, article, or report) with
        Dublin Core metadata and one or more bitstreams.
      tags: [dspace, wiredspace, record]
    - term: Bitstream
      definition: >-
        A binary file (PDF, dataset, etc.) attached to a DSpace item via a bundle.
      tags: [dspace, wiredspace, file]
    - term: Handle
      definition: >-
        A persistent identifier assigned to DSpace objects under the 10539 prefix,
        e.g. 10539/38213, resolvable via hdl.handle.net. WIReDSpace identifies its
        objects with Handles, not DOIs.
      tags: [identifier, persistent, dspace]
    - term: Metadata Value
      definition: >-
        A single Dublin Core (or other schema) metadata entry on a DSpace object,
        carrying value, language, authority, confidence, and place.
      tags: [dspace, metadata, dublin-core]
    - term: OAI-PMH
      definition: >-
        Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting v2.0, the
        verb-driven XML interface for bulk metadata harvesting from WIReDSpace.
      tags: [oai-pmh, harvesting, metadata]
    - term: Verb
      definition: >-
        The OAI-PMH operation selector (Identify, ListMetadataFormats, ListSets,
        ListIdentifiers, ListRecords, GetRecord).
      tags: [oai-pmh, operation]
    - term: Set
      definition: >-
        An OAI-PMH grouping used for selective harvesting of a subset of records.
        WIReDSpace sets are community-scoped and keyed to the Handle prefix, e.g.
        com_10539_38213.
      tags: [oai-pmh, harvesting]
    - term: Metadata Prefix
      definition: >-
        The OAI-PMH metadata format selector. WIReDSpace advertises thirteen —
        oai_dc, qdc, dim, mets, mods, ore, didl, rdf, marc, etdms, rioxx, uketd_dc, xoai.
      tags: [oai-pmh, metadata, format]
    - term: Open Data Vault
      definition: >-
        The Wits research data repository at opendata.wits.ac.za. The hostname is the
        university's; the platform and the API contract underneath it are Figshare's. Wits
        operates the repository as a tenant, not as its engineer.
      tags: [research-data, tenant, figshare, open-data]
    - term: DOI
      definition: >-
        Digital Object Identifier minted for Open Data Vault datasets under the Wits
        DataCite prefix 10.71796 (DataCite repository client wits.figshare), e.g.
        10.71796/wits-figshare.33306885.
      tags: [identifier, persistent, datacite, doi]
    - term: Identity Provider
      definition: >-
        The Wits SAML 2.0 identity provider at idp.wits.ac.za, registered in SAFIRE (the
        South African Identity Federation) and published to eduGAIN. It serves signed
        SAML metadata and is the university's own machine-readable identity surface.
      tags: [saml, shibboleth, federation, identity]
    - term: Scope
      definition: >-
        The shibmd:Scope value asserted by the Wits IdP for the domains whose users it can
        authenticate — wits.ac.za and students.wits.ac.za.
      tags: [saml, shibboleth, federation]
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com