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The dataset R Package

Overview

The dataset package helps you create semantically rich, machine-readable, and interoperable datasets in R. It introduces S3 classes that extend data frames, vectors, and bibliographic entries with formal metadata structures inspired by:

  • SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange), widely used in official statistics
  • Dublin Core and DataCite, for FAIR-compliant depositing and reuse in scientific and open data repositories
  • Open Science publishing practices, to support transparent and reproducible research

The goal is to preserve metadata when reusing statistical and repository datasets, improve interoperability, and make it easy to turn tidy data frames into web-ready, publishable datasets that comply with ISO and W3C standards.

Installation

You can install the latest released version of dataset from CRAN with:

install.packages("dataset")

To install the development version from GitHub with pak or remotes:

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("dataobservatory-eu/dataset")

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("dataobservatory-eu/dataset")

Minimal Example 

library(dataset)
df <- dataset_df(
  country = defined(
    c("AD", "LI"),
    label = "Country",
    namespace = "https://www.geonames.org/countries/$1/"
  ),
  gdp = defined(c(3897, 7365),
    label = "GDP",
    unit = "million euros"
  ),
  dataset_bibentry = dublincore(
    title = "GDP Dataset",
    creator = person("Jane", "Doe", role = "aut"),
    publisher = "Small Repository"
  )
)
print(df)
#> Doe (2025): GDP Dataset [dataset]
#>   rowid     country   gdp       
#>   <defined> <defined> <defined>
#> 1 obs1      AD        3897     
#> 2 obs2      LI        7365

Export as RDF triples:

dataset_to_triples(df, format = "nt")
#> [1] "<http://example.com/dataset#obsobs1> <http://example.com/prop/country> <https://www.geonames.org/countries/AD/> ."
#> [2] "<http://example.com/dataset#obsobs2> <http://example.com/prop/country> <https://www.geonames.org/countries/LI/> ."
#> [3] "<http://example.com/dataset#obsobs1> <http://example.com/prop/gdp> \"3897\"^^<xsd:decimal> ."                     
#> [4] "<http://example.com/dataset#obsobs2> <http://example.com/prop/gdp> \"7365\"^^<xsd:decimal> ."

Retain automatically recorded provenance:

#> [1] "<http://example.com/dataset_prov.nt> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#Bundle> ."                  
#> [2] "<http://example.com/dataset#> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#Entity> ."                         
#> [3] "<http://example.com/dataset#> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://purl.org/linked-data/cube#DataSet> ."                 
#> [4] "_:doejane <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#Agent> ."                                              
#> [5] "<https://doi.org/10.32614/CRAN.package.dataset> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#SoftwareAgent> ."
#> [6] "<http://example.com/creation> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#Activity> ."                       
#> [7] "<http://example.com/creation> <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#generatedAtTime> \"2025-08-27T17:55:55Z\"^^<xsd:dateTime> ."

Contributing

We welcome contributions and discussion!

Code of Conduct

This project follows the rOpenSci Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold these guidelines.