diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4bc63c9f0f..fc66167495 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ JsonApiDotnetCore provides a framework for building [json:api](http://jsonapi.or
 	- [Pagination](#pagination)
 	- [Filtering](#filtering)
 	- [Sorting](#sorting)
+    - [Meta](#meta)
 - [Tests](#tests)
 
 ## Installation
@@ -240,6 +241,18 @@ when setting up the services:
      opt => opt.DefaultPageSize = 10);
 ```
 
+**Total Record Count**
+
+The total number of records can be added to the document meta by setting it in the options:
+
+```
+services.AddJsonApi<AppDbContext>(opt =>
+{
+    opt.DefaultPageSize = 5;
+    opt.IncludeTotalRecordCount = true;
+});
+```
+
 ### Filtering
 
 You can filter resources by attributes using the `filter` query parameter. 
@@ -270,6 +283,25 @@ Resources can be sorted by an attribute:
 ?sort=-attribute // descending
 ```
 
+### Meta
+
+Resource meta can be defined by implementing `IHasMeta` on the model class:
+
+```
+public class Person : Identifiable<int>, IHasMeta
+{
+    // ...
+
+    public Dictionary<string, object> GetMeta(IJsonApiContext context)
+    {
+        return new Dictionary<string, object> {
+            { "copyright", "Copyright 2015 Example Corp." },
+            { "authors", new string[] { "Jared Nance" } }
+        };
+    }
+}
+```
+
 ## Tests
 
 I am using DotNetCoreDocs to generate sample requests and documentation.
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Builders/DocumentBuilder.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Builders/DocumentBuilder.cs
index dd9a6ff2d2..eda58f66a3 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Builders/DocumentBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Builders/DocumentBuilder.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
 using JsonApiDotNetCore.Extensions;
 using JsonApiDotNetCore.Internal;
 using JsonApiDotNetCore.Models;
@@ -24,7 +25,8 @@ public Document Build(IIdentifiable entity)
 
             var document = new Document
             {
-                Data = _getData(contextEntity, entity)
+                Data = _getData(contextEntity, entity),
+                Meta = _getMeta(entity)
             };
 
             document.Included = _appendIncludedObject(document.Included, contextEntity, entity);
@@ -42,7 +44,8 @@ public Documents Build(IEnumerable<IIdentifiable> entities)
 
             var documents = new Documents
             {
-                Data = new List<DocumentData>()
+                Data = new List<DocumentData>(),
+                Meta = _getMeta(entities.FirstOrDefault())
             };
 
             foreach (var entity in entities)
@@ -54,6 +57,23 @@ public Documents Build(IEnumerable<IIdentifiable> entities)
             return documents;
         }
 
+        private Dictionary<string, object> _getMeta(IIdentifiable entity)
+        {
+            if (entity == null) return null;
+
+            var meta = new Dictionary<string, object>();
+            var metaEntity = entity as IHasMeta;
+            
+            if(metaEntity != null)
+                meta = metaEntity.GetMeta(_jsonApiContext);
+
+            if(_jsonApiContext.Options.IncludeTotalRecordCount)
+                meta["total-records"] = _jsonApiContext.TotalRecords;
+            
+            if(meta.Count > 0) return meta;
+            return null;
+        }
+
         private List<DocumentData> _appendIncludedObject(List<DocumentData> includedObject, ContextEntity contextEntity, IIdentifiable entity)
         {
             var includedEntities = _getIncludedEntities(contextEntity, entity);
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Configuration/JsonApiOptions.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Configuration/JsonApiOptions.cs
index ffa688f1e4..8285921fa2 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Configuration/JsonApiOptions.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Configuration/JsonApiOptions.cs
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ public class JsonApiOptions
     {
         public string Namespace { get; set; }
         public int DefaultPageSize { get; set; }
+        public bool IncludeTotalRecordCount { get; set; }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Controllers/JsonApiController.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Controllers/JsonApiController.cs
index e07f76952f..1378a373c5 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Controllers/JsonApiController.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Controllers/JsonApiController.cs
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ public virtual async Task<IActionResult> GetAsync()
             if (_jsonApiContext.QuerySet != null && _jsonApiContext.QuerySet.IncludedRelationships != null && _jsonApiContext.QuerySet.IncludedRelationships.Count > 0)
                 entities = IncludeRelationships(entities, _jsonApiContext.QuerySet.IncludedRelationships);
 
+            if (_jsonApiContext.Options.IncludeTotalRecordCount)
+                _jsonApiContext.TotalRecords = await entities.CountAsync();
+
             // pagination should be done last since it will execute the query
             var pagedEntities = await ApplyPageQueryAsync(entities);
 
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Document.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Document.cs
index 20d058a702..71922e5573 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Document.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Document.cs
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
-using System.Collections.Generic;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
 
 namespace JsonApiDotNetCore.Models
 {
-    public class Document
+    public class Document : DocumentBase
     {
         [JsonProperty("data")]
         public DocumentData Data { get; set; }
-        
-        [JsonProperty("included")]
-        public List<DocumentData> Included { get; set; }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/DocumentBase.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/DocumentBase.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7864c72d13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/DocumentBase.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
+
+namespace JsonApiDotNetCore.Models
+{
+    public class DocumentBase
+    {        
+        [JsonProperty("included")]
+        public List<DocumentData> Included { get; set; }
+        public Dictionary<string, object> Meta { get; set; }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Documents.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Documents.cs
index df5bf57c2a..5ba8203bc4 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Documents.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/Documents.cs
@@ -3,12 +3,9 @@
 
 namespace JsonApiDotNetCore.Models
 {
-    public class Documents
+    public class Documents : DocumentBase
     {
         [JsonProperty("data")]
         public List<DocumentData> Data { get; set; }
-
-        [JsonProperty("included")]
-        public List<DocumentData> Included { get; set; }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/IHasMeta.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/IHasMeta.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50d86e6034
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Models/IHasMeta.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using JsonApiDotNetCore.Services;
+
+namespace JsonApiDotNetCore.Models
+{
+    public interface IHasMeta
+    {
+        Dictionary<string, object> GetMeta(IJsonApiContext context);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/IJsonApiContext.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/IJsonApiContext.cs
index 42f3da02a2..30faf32fea 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/IJsonApiContext.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/IJsonApiContext.cs
@@ -15,5 +15,6 @@ public interface IJsonApiContext
         QuerySet QuerySet { get; set; }
         bool IsRelationshipData { get; set; }
         List<string> IncludedRelationships { get; set; }
+        int TotalRecords { get; set; }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/JsonApiContext.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/JsonApiContext.cs
index 94dc5d314f..8423eb4450 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/JsonApiContext.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/Services/JsonApiContext.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ public JsonApiContext(
             _httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
             Options = options;
         }
+
         public JsonApiOptions Options { get; set; }
         public IContextGraph ContextGraph { get; set; }
         public ContextEntity RequestEntity { get; set; }
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ public JsonApiContext(
         public QuerySet QuerySet { get; set; }
         public bool IsRelationshipData { get; set; }
         public List<string> IncludedRelationships { get; set; }
+        public int TotalRecords { get; set; }
 
         public IJsonApiContext ApplyContext<T>()
         {
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/project.json b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/project.json
index eb3ef3ac01..d56b00e58f 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/project.json
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCore/project.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "version": "0.2.11",
+  "version": "0.2.12",
 
   "dependencies": {
     "Microsoft.NETCore.App": {
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Models/Person.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Models/Person.cs
index 45c1eb54d0..4c09bd01f5 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Models/Person.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Models/Person.cs
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using JsonApiDotNetCore.Internal;
 using JsonApiDotNetCore.Models;
+using JsonApiDotNetCore.Services;
 
 namespace JsonApiDotNetCoreExample.Models
 {
-    public class Person : Identifiable<int>
+    public class Person : Identifiable<int>, IHasMeta
     {
         public override int Id { get; set; }
         
@@ -15,5 +16,13 @@ public class Person : Identifiable<int>
         public string LastName { get; set; }
 
         public virtual List<TodoItem> TodoItems { get; set; }
+
+        public Dictionary<string, object> GetMeta(IJsonApiContext context)
+        {
+            return new Dictionary<string, object> {
+                { "copyright", "Copyright 2015 Example Corp." },
+                { "authors", new string[] { "Jared Nance" } }
+            };
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Startup.cs b/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Startup.cs
index c47a4a3201..6ae05f93d3 100644
--- a/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Startup.cs
+++ b/src/JsonApiDotNetCoreExample/Startup.cs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ namespace JsonApiDotNetCoreExample
 {
     public class Startup
     {
-        private readonly IConfiguration _config;
+        public readonly IConfiguration Config;
 
         public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)
         {
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)
                 .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true)
                 .AddEnvironmentVariables();
 
-            _config = builder.Build();
+            Config = builder.Build();
         }
 
-        public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
+        public virtual IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
         {
             var loggerFactory = new LoggerFactory();
             loggerFactory
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
 
             services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(options =>
             {
-                options.UseNpgsql(_getDbConnectionString());
+                options.UseNpgsql(GetDbConnectionString());
             }, ServiceLifetime.Transient);
 
             services.AddJsonApi<AppDbContext>(opt =>
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
                 opt.DefaultPageSize = 5;
             });
 
-            services.AddDocumentationConfiguration(_config);
+            services.AddDocumentationConfiguration(Config);
 
             var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
             var appContext = provider.GetRequiredService<AppDbContext>();
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
             return provider;
         }
 
-        public void Configure(
+        public virtual void Configure(
             IApplicationBuilder app,
             IHostingEnvironment env,
             ILoggerFactory loggerFactory,
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public void Configure(
         {
             context.Database.Migrate();
 
-            loggerFactory.AddConsole(_config.GetSection("Logging"));
+            loggerFactory.AddConsole(Config.GetSection("Logging"));
             loggerFactory.AddDebug();
 
             app.UseDocs();
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ public void Configure(
             app.UseJsonApi();
         }
 
-        private string _getDbConnectionString()
+        public string GetDbConnectionString()
         {
-            return _config["Data:DefaultConnection"];
+            return Config["Data:DefaultConnection"];
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Acceptance/Spec/DocumentTests/Meta.cs b/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Acceptance/Spec/DocumentTests/Meta.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0be777a4f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Acceptance/Spec/DocumentTests/Meta.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Http;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using DotNetCoreDocs;
+using DotNetCoreDocs.Writers;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExample;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.TestHost;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
+using Xunit;
+using JsonApiDotNetCore.Models;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExample.Data;
+using System.Linq;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests.Startups;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExample.Models;
+using System.Collections;
+
+namespace JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests.Acceptance.Spec.DocumentTests
+{
+    [Collection("WebHostCollection")]
+    public class Meta
+    {
+        private DocsFixture<Startup, JsonDocWriter> _fixture;
+        private AppDbContext _context;
+        public Meta(DocsFixture<Startup, JsonDocWriter> fixture)
+        {
+            _fixture = fixture;
+            _context = fixture.GetService<AppDbContext>();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Total_Record_Count_Included()
+        {
+            // arrange
+            var expectedCount = _context.TodoItems.Count();
+            var builder = new WebHostBuilder()
+                .UseStartup<MetaStartup>();
+
+            var httpMethod = new HttpMethod("GET");
+            var route = $"/api/v1/todo-items";
+
+            var server = new TestServer(builder);
+            var client = server.CreateClient();
+            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(httpMethod, route);
+
+            // act
+            var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
+            var documents = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Documents>(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+            
+            // assert
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
+            Assert.NotNull(documents.Meta);
+            Assert.Equal((long)expectedCount, (long)documents.Meta["total-records"]);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task EntityThatImplements_IHasMeta_Contains_MetaData()
+        {
+            // arrange
+            var person = new Person();
+            var expectedMeta = person.GetMeta(null);
+            var builder = new WebHostBuilder()
+                .UseStartup<Startup>();
+
+            var httpMethod = new HttpMethod("GET");
+            var route = $"/api/v1/people";
+
+            var server = new TestServer(builder);
+            var client = server.CreateClient();
+            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(httpMethod, route);
+
+            // act
+            var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
+            var documents = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Documents>(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+            
+            // assert
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
+            Assert.NotNull(documents.Meta);
+            Assert.NotNull(expectedMeta);
+            Assert.NotEmpty(expectedMeta);
+            
+            foreach(var hash in expectedMeta)
+            {
+                if(hash.Value is IList)
+                {
+                    var listValue = (IList)hash.Value;
+                    for(var i=0; i < listValue.Count; i++)
+                        Assert.Equal(listValue[i].ToString(), ((IList)documents.Meta[hash.Key])[i].ToString());
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    Assert.Equal(hash.Value, documents.Meta[hash.Key]);
+                }
+            }                
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Startups/MetaStartup.cs b/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Startups/MetaStartup.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c84733632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests/Startups/MetaStartup.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExample.Data;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using JsonApiDotNetCore.Extensions;
+using DotNetCoreDocs.Configuration;
+using System;
+using JsonApiDotNetCoreExample;
+
+namespace JsonApiDotNetCoreExampleTests.Startups
+{
+    public class MetaStartup : Startup
+    {
+        public MetaStartup(IHostingEnvironment env)
+        : base (env)
+        {  }
+
+        public override IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
+        {
+            var loggerFactory = new LoggerFactory();
+
+            loggerFactory
+              .AddConsole(LogLevel.Trace);
+
+            services.AddSingleton<ILoggerFactory>(loggerFactory);
+
+            services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(options =>
+            {
+                options.UseNpgsql(GetDbConnectionString());
+            }, ServiceLifetime.Transient);
+
+            services.AddJsonApi<AppDbContext>(opt =>
+            {
+                opt.Namespace = "api/v1";
+                opt.DefaultPageSize = 5;
+                opt.IncludeTotalRecordCount = true;
+            });
+
+            services.AddDocumentationConfiguration(Config);
+
+            return services.BuildServiceProvider();
+        }
+    }
+}