Navigating the future of digital curation: The transformative role of persistent identifiers

Abstract

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are crucial for the development of a common infrastructure for open science and contribute to scientific integrity. They enable the unique and persistent identification of research objects and scientific resources. At the same time, the associated descriptive metadata contain information about the resource and are essential for a digital, interconnected scientific landscape. Globally, the development and adoption of PIDs for various institutions has gained momentum as stakeholders have recognized their importance in improving research visibility, attribution and data sharing. This progression of PIDs has fundamentally changed the way researchers and resources are identified and connected in the global research ecosystem. Targeted surveys and workshops organized for the German research landscape by the projects PID Network Germany and PID4NFDI help to identify the use of PIDs as well as the needs and challenges in different research and infrastructure institutions and promote the networking of different open PID systems on a national and international level. The latest survey results provide information on the current status of the use and implementation of PIDs at research and higher education institutions in Germany. In the lightning talk, we will present the results and place them in the context of existing findings. The PID Network Germany project builds on the successful efforts of ORCID-DE projects, two forerunner projects that ran from 2016 to 2019 and 2019 to 2023 respectively. It aims to further integrate PIDs into the research landscape and address existing challenges. In this context, aligning efforts with principles such as ACTION - Advocacy, Collaboration, Training, Implementation, Outreach and Networking - has proven effective in overcoming reservations and in promoting the widespread use of PIDs in different contexts. The presentation will address the extent to which awareness of different PID systems has changed over the last decade and what is being done to promote their establishment. By examining progress in the research, cultural, and funding institutions landscape, we aim to provide insights into best practices for the coming decades of digital curation and propose actionable strategies, such as the development of a PID roadmap.

Steffi Genderjahn

Project team member

Steffi works at the Helmholtz Open Science Office and is a project team member of PID4NFDI.

Marc Lange

Project team member

Marc was a project team member of PID4NFDI from March 2024 to April 2025.