The metadata standard on fossil specimens is proposed based on the palaeontological research status and the fossil collections of several institutions. This metadata standard includes ten core elements and one metadata entity. The ten core elements contain Title, Data Identifier, License URI, Keyword, Description, Fossil Specimen Parameter, Online Address, Creator, Create Date, and Access Constraints. The metadata entity is Point Of Contact. Fossil Specimen Parameter includes physical information, systematic palaeontology information, stratigraphic information, and high dimensional information of fossil specimens. The establishment of metadata standard on the palaeontological specimens facilitates the development toward the standardization of fossil specimen data. The standard will benefit sorting, collecting, interoperating, retrieving, searching, sharing, and using fossil data, and promote the new paradigm shift toward data-driven research in paleontology and stratigraphy.
