Risks and trust in pursuit of a well functioning Persistent Identifier infrastructure for research

Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and their infrastructures are of significant strategic importance to the increasingly digital reality of modern-day research. To better understand what is needed to build and exploit a well-functioning PID infrastructure for research, Knowledge Exchange (KE) conducted an in-depth investigation on PIDs, with the aim of producing recommendations for those stakeholders involved.

A scoping document was written by experts of the Task & Finish Group for PIDs Risks &Trust and a call for bids on further investigations resulted in a team of consultants taking on the assignment ‘to identify the best possible strategic and operational paths to achieve a well-functioning PID infrastructure for KE member states and beyond.'

The role of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) within modern-day research has been explored and analysed and recommendations identified, making use of the KE Open Scholarship Framework as well as the notions of Risk and Trust.

The study includes a literature review on the main characteristics of PIDs and an analysis of interviews with a variety of actors, ranging from PID Managers, Owners and Users to PID Authorities and Providers.

The results from this work are increased understanding of the PID landscape, a set of use cases, and recommendations to improve the PID infrastructure. The published report, Building the plane as we fly it: the promise of Persistent Identifiers, and complementary case studies provide answers to the following questions:

• What are the benefits of an efficient PID infrastructure, how does it contribute to an open infrastructure and how is this a precondition for research communities impending research agendas?
• What are important risk and trust issues that key players involved in the PID infrastructure face and what can go wrong with an unreliable PID service?
• What recommendations can be made for key stakeholder groups?

For further information and to access the report and case studies click here.

Webinar

The first Knowledge Exchange webinar took place on 23 May 2023, the subject being Persistent Identifiers in academia: risk and trust. You can watch the one-hour recorded event and hear from expert speakers on how to ensure the effective implementation and management of PID systems. You will also learn more about the risks of an unreliable PID service and reasons why PID usage should be promoted.

The Task & Finish Group for PIDs Risk and Trust

The activity is led by KE representatives Frank Manista (Jisc) and Josefine Nordling (CSC). The Task & Finish Group for this activity consists of experts from across each of the six KE partner countries:

• Rene Belsø (Expert Lead), DeiC, Denmark
• Martin Matthiesen (Expert Co-lead), CSC, Finland
• Pascal Aventurier, IRD, France
• Nathalie Fargier, CNRS, France
• Gaëlle Béquet, ISSN, France
• Jessica Parland-von Essen, CSC, Finland
• Clifford Tatum, CWTS, Netherlands
• Laurents Sesink, Leiden University, Netherlands 
• Gül Akcaova, SURF, Netherlands
• Stephanie Palek, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Germany
• Jürgen Kett, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Germany
• Britta Dreyer, Technische Informationsbibliothek, Germany
• Adam Vials Moore, Jisc, UK 
• Hilda Muchando, Human Made / ALTIS, UK
• Kirsty Wallis, University College London, UK

The Consultants

A team of consultants were appointed by KE to support this work:

• Ulrich Herb (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3500-3119)
• Pablo de Castro (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6300-1033)
• Laura Rothfritz (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7525-0635)
• Joachim Schöpfel (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4000-807X)