OAI-PMH
The Archives of Psychiatry and Mental Health (APMH) supports full compliance with the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), a global interoperability framework that enables repositories, search engines, libraries, and academic services to systematically harvest metadata from open-access scholarly content. The predecessor website provided general indexing visibility, but this updated page enhances the policy with a full technical explanation, best practices, and compliance standards for OAI-PMH implementation.
What Is OAI-PMH?
OAI-PMH is a low-barrier protocol developed by the Open Archives Initiative. It allows automated metadata exchange and harvesting from scholarly publishing platforms. Through OAI-PMH, APMH provides structured metadata that can be collected by:
- Institutional repositories
- Search engines
- Digital libraries
- Indexing databases
- Aggregators such as BASE, OpenAIRE, and WorldCat
- Harvesters supporting cross-institutional archiving
This ensures deep discoverability and interoperability across global academic ecosystems.
Why OAI-PMH Matters
Supporting OAI-PMH is crucial for maximizing the reach and impact of mental health research. Benefits include:
- Enhanced discoverability: Articles become available through academic search engines and library networks.
- Metadata standardization: Ensures cross-platform consistency and compliance.
- Repository integration: Institutions can automatically import APMH article metadata.
- Compliance with funder mandates: Many open-access mandates require OAI-PMH availability.
- Long-term preservation: Works with preservation networks (PKP PN, CLOCKSS, institutional repositories).
APMH OAI-PMH Endpoint
APMH provides a public OAI-PMH endpoint compatible with scholarly harvesters. The standard base URL for OAI-PMH endpoints is:
https://www.psychiatryhealthjournal.com/oai-pmh/?verb=Identify
This endpoint supports all OAI-PMH verbs:
?verb=Identify?verb=ListSets?verb=ListMetadataFormats?verb=ListIdentifiers?verb=ListRecords?verb=GetRecord
Metadata is made available in multiple standardized formats.
Metadata Formats Supported
APMH provides the following common metadata schemas via OAI-PMH:
- Dublin Core (oai_dc) – required base set for global interoperability.
- Crossref XML – for DOI and citation linking services.
- MODS – library-oriented metadata structure.
- JATS XML – increasingly used in scholarly publishing workflows.
These metadata formats improve compatibility with repositories, research infrastructures, and institutional systems.
How Harvesters Use APMH Metadata
Harvesters use OAI-PMH to automate:
- Indexing
- Citation linking
- Repository population
- Search engine visibility
- Content aggregation
By enabling this automation, APMH ensures robust dissemination of every published manuscript.
Technical Overview of the OAI-PMH Process
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Harvester | System requesting metadata (e.g., BASE, OpenAIRE). |
| Endpoint | APMH’s OAI-PMH URL. |
| Verb | Command specifying metadata retrieval action. |
| Response | XML output containing structured metadata. |
| Repository | Destination system storing metadata. |
This structured interoperability is fundamental to open-access digital scholarship.
Examples of OAI-PMH Queries
1. Identify Repository Information
https://www.psychiatryhealthjournal.com/oai-pmh/?verb=Identify
2. Retrieve Metadata Formats
https://www.psychiatryhealthjournal.com/oai-pmh/?verb=ListMetadataFormats
3. List All Records
https://www.psychiatryhealthjournal.com/oai-pmh/?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc
4. Retrieve a Specific Record
https://www.psychiatryhealthjournal.com/oai-pmh/?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&identifier=doi:10.xxxx/apmh.xxxx
Compliance With Open Science Requirements
OAI-PMH is essential for compliance with:
- OpenAIRE guidelines (European Commission)
- Plan S repositories and harvesting infrastructure
- UNESCO Open Science Framework
- Library discovery systems (WorldCat, Ex Libris Primo, EBSCO Discovery)
These compliance mechanisms ensure permanent accessibility and traceable distribution of APMH’s scholarly output.
Relationship to Indexing & Archiving
OAI-PMH powers several indexing and archiving processes by enabling:
- Automatic metadata ingestion by repositories
- Preservation through LOCKSS-based networks
- Enhanced visibility for Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar
- Improved citation linking for Crossref
- Compatibility with institutional library systems
Modern scholarly ecosystems rely on OAI-PMH for seamless academic interoperability.
Real-World Scenario
Scenario: A national mental health research archive in India wants to include all child psychiatry literature relevant to community health workers. By using the APMH OAI-PMH endpoint, the archive harvests metadata for every article published in the journal. This allows frontline health educators in rural settings to retrieve open-access APMH content through their institutional repository without individually visiting the journal website. As new articles are published, updated metadata is harvested automatically, ensuring that practitioners always have access to the latest research.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Is OAI-PMH access free?
- Yes. OAI-PMH is an open access standard, and metadata harvesting is free for all users and institutions.
- Q: Does OAI-PMH expose full text?
- No. It exposes metadata, not PDFs. Full text remains available directly on the journal website.
- Q: Do I need a login to use the OAI-PMH endpoint?
- No. OAI-PMH is publicly accessible.
- Q: Can institutions automatically populate repositories?
- Yes. OAI-PMH is specifically designed for automated ingest workflows.
- Q: Does APMH support multiple metadata formats?
- Yes. oai_dc, Crossref XML, MODS, and JATS XML are supported.
Conclusion
OAI-PMH support at APMH guarantees that the journal remains fully integrated into the global scholarly communication network. By enabling automated metadata harvesting, repository interoperability, and standardized metadata outputs, APMH ensures that its research contributions—critical to child and adolescent mental health—are permanently discoverable, accessible, and preserved across academic ecosystems worldwide.