Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Are metadata records required for any size dataset? [102]

By Office of Science Quality and Integrity

There is no established size for a dataset that prescribes when a metadata record is required. A metadata record may not be needed if results are presented in their entirety in a published table. However, if the table contains analytical or summary results, or records are extracted from a larger dataset, it is appropriate to have a metadata record for the larger dataset. [Read more]

There is no established size for a dataset that prescribes when a metadata record is required. A separate metadata record may not be needed if only a few sample results are presented in their entirety in a published table. However, if the table contains analytical or summary results, or a larger set of data is used from which a small number of records are extracted to create a table for a USGS series or outside publication, then it is appropriate to also have a metadata record for that larger dataset. When data are released, they must be accompanied by a metadata record. If a product uses a subset or summary of separately released data, no additional metadata record is needed.