The synthetic provenance register
A documented result keeps the source object, activity, responsible agent, relation, timing, and downstream use visible together.
| ID | Entity | Activity | Agent | Relation and time | Downstream use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-01 | Source PDF S-17, retrieved 2026-08-31 | Extract table 4 | Research analyst | Used at retrieval time | Claim ledger |
| P-02 | Extract E-17, version 1 | Normalize units | Analysis notebook N-4 | Derived from S-17 | Working dataset |
| P-03 | Account snapshot A-31 | Join to E-17 by account ID | Scheduled pipeline | Associated at 2026-09-01 06:00 | Cohort table |
| P-04 | Cohort table C-2 | Exclude duplicate IDs | Data steward | Activity recorded; reason retained | Review worksheet |
| P-05 | Review worksheet W-9 | Approve evidence sentence | Editor and source owner | Attributed to W-9 on 2026-09-02 | Draft article |
| P-06 | Draft article D-1 | Publish or hold | Editorial process | Hold if source or relation is unresolved | Release decision |
Swipe or scroll horizontally if the table is wider than your screen.
Reference & Evidence
Source: Author's synthetic provenance register grounded in World Wide Web Consortium (2013) PROV-DM. The vocabulary is source-bounded; all entities, activities, agents, dates, and dispositions are illustrative.
Each line is a claim from the register this journal publishes against, resolved from the register at build time.
- A "Provenance is information about entities, activities, and people involved in producing a piece of data or thing", used to assess its quality, reliability or trustworthiness W3C. (2013). PROV-DM The PROV Data Model captured 2026-09-06 ·
W3C13-C1 - A The model is organised in six components, among them "derivations of entities from entities", alongside generation, usage, association and attribution W3C. (2013). PROV-DM The PROV Data Model captured 2026-09-06 ·
W3C13-C3 - A "a derivation is a transformation of an entity into another, an update of an entity resulting in a new one, or the construction of a new entity" based on a pre-existing one W3C. (2013). PROV-DM The PROV Data Model captured 2026-09-06 ·
W3C13-C4 - A Provenance is input to a judgement, not a warrant: information "which can be used to form assessments about its quality, reliability or trustworthiness". It certifies nothing W3C. (2013). PROV-DM The PROV Data Model captured 2026-09-06 ·
W3C13-C5 - B Data provenance records the entities, activities, agents, relations, and timing involved in producing, influencing, or delivering a data object Author framework grounded in W3C13-C1, W3C13-C3, and W3C13-C4 ·
R02-OWN-C1 - B A provenance register should preserve entity identity and version, activity, agent, relation, clock, downstream use, and exception state Author operating framework ·
R02-OWN-C4 - B A versioned source, recorded transformation, named agent, and downstream use allow an analyst to replay the context of a result Author framework ·
R02-OWN-C5 - B Unversioned substitution, relation loss, agent collapse, clock confusion, and unrecorded exclusion are provenance failure modes Author diagnostic framework ·
R02-OWN-C6
Grades: A, verified against the printed page of the primary source · B, primary source, text layer only · C, authoritative secondary · D, reported.
Related exhibits
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The synthetic lineage reconstruction table
From the essay What is data lineage? The transformations behind a result
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What does data provenance mean?
From the essay What is data provenance? The context behind a number
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The synthetic source-verification register
From the essay What is source verification? From claim to version of record