SWORD is the standard protocol for depositing content into a repository — the write side of the scholarly infrastructure that OAI-PMH reads. It lets an author, a publisher or a current-research-information system push an article or dataset into an institutional repository without a bespoke integration per repository.
SWORD
SWORD completes the pair. OAI-PMH standardised getting metadata out of repositories; SWORD standardises putting content in. Version 3 modernised it substantially, and it remains the only widely adopted deposit protocol in scholarly publishing.
- Deposit as a protocol - Create, replace, append and delete against a repository, over HTTP.
- Mediated deposit - One system can deposit on behalf of an author — delegation, specified.
- Packaging - Content plus metadata as a defined package rather than a form upload.
- Paired with harvesting - Read and write halves of the same infrastructure, from the same community.
A market that standardised both reading and writing is unusual, and it shows in the scores. In The State of Education & EdTech APIs the scholarly record and repository segment posts the highest publication rate and the highest agent-readiness in the education market, on the strength of infrastructure like this — built by the people who operate it rather than sold to them.
Referenced in API Evangelist papers
This standard shows up in my published research. These reports read the machine-readable evidence provider by provider — and put this standard in the context of a real sector.
The State of Education & EdTech APIs
The write half of scholarly infrastructure, paired with OAI-PMH's read half — in the segment posting the highest publication rate and agent-readiness in education.
