Data dictionary
What each field means, its unit, and whether it's required. The same content ships as a sheet in every full Excel export.
| Field | Meaning | Unit | Required | Example | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| article_citation | Full citation text for the source paper | - | Required | Sun & Arntfield (2010). Food Hydrocolloids, 24(8), 922-930. | - | Used to find-or-create the parent article row on import. |
| article_doi | Digital Object Identifier for the paper | - | Optional | 10.1016/j.foodhyd.2010.04.011 | Format: 10.xxxx/... | Strongly recommended - used for duplicate detection across uploads. |
| protein | Name of the protein system tested | - | Required | Pea protein isolate | - | Free text; standardize via /controlled-vocabulary where possible. |
| protein_concentration_percent | Protein concentration in the test system | % (w/v or w/w as reported) | Optional | 10 | Usually 1-30 | Check the paper for w/v vs w/w basis - not standardized across studies. |
| treatment_1 / treatment_2 / treatment_3 | Processing treatment or pretreatment applied | - | Optional | Heat-induced gelation | - | Up to 3 treatments per condition row. |
| treatment_N_temperature_c | Temperature at which the treatment was applied | °C | Optional | 95 | Usually 0-200 | Standardize to Celsius on import if the source reports °F or K. |
| treatment_N_time_min | Duration of the treatment | minutes | Optional | 30 | > 0 | Standardize to minutes; convert hours x 60 on import. |
| additive_1...additive_4 | Additives or ingredients included in the formulation | - | Optional | NaCl | - | Up to 4 additives per condition row. |
| ph | pH of the system at the time of measurement | pH units | Optional | 7.0 | 0-14 | Values outside 0-14 are flagged as a validation warning. |
| salt_1...salt_3 / ionic_strength_N_m | Salt type and its ionic strength | M (molar) | Optional | NaCl, 0.1 | Usually 0-2 M | Values above ~10 M are flagged for a unit double-check. |
| gel_heating_temperature_c / gel_heating_time_min | Heating condition used to form the gel | °C / minutes | Optional | 95 / 30 | - | - |
| storage_temperature_c / storage_time_h | Storage condition after sample preparation | °C / hours | Optional | 4 / 24 | - | - |
| functionality_type | Category of protein functionality measured for this condition | - | Required | gelation_hardness | See /controlled-vocabulary for the full list | Drives which measurement fields apply. |
| measurement_name | Specific value measured (free text for non-hardness/WHC types) | - | Conditional | foaming_capacity | - | hardness/whc keep dedicated columns on experimental_records for backward compatibility, and are mirrored here too. |
| measurement_value | The numeric result of the measurement | Varies - see measurement_unit | Conditional | 120.5 | - | Never stored as text like "NA" - missing values are true SQL null. |
| metadata_json | Type-specific extra fields that don't fit a common column | - | Optional | {"shear_rate": 50, "strain": 0.01} | - | Used for rheology (G', G'', shear rate, strain, frequency) and thermal properties (transition temp, enthalpy). |
| data_status | Review state of the row | - | Required | approved | pending, approved, rejected, needs_correction, raw, draft | Only approved + not-deleted rows are visible to public/viewer users. |
| quality_flag | Free-text flag for known data-quality caveats | - | Optional | Value estimated from a figure, not a reported number | - | - |