Future-Proofing Scholarly Publishing: The Role of PIDs
In the vast and expansive digital world, the importance of keeping track of records or data cannot be understated. That is where Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) come in! As a unique, unchanging digital fingerprint for a digital object or entity, PIDs allow easy tracking and locating of specific objects, regardless of any changes or updates made. Unlike purely linking to the object, PIDs can be associated with a set of metadata that comprehensively describes the object. This enables diverse platforms to seamlessly exchange information, creating a dependable pathway for tracking citations and facilitating reuse.
While elements like URLs, serial numbers, and personal names can serve as identifiers, they often lack the permanence, stability, and uniqueness required in the ever-evolving landscape of the internet. PIDs were specifically developed to tackle the challenges arising from this constantly changing digital environment, ensuring a reliable record of digital objects.
Why should scholarly publishers care about PID strategies?
PIDs provide a reliable and unique way of identifying research outputs, such as articles, datasets, and multimedia content, holding immense value in an increasingly digital and interconnected world. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is an example of a PID that identifies research content like published articles and datasets. Additionally, there are Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCIDs) for researchers and Research Organization Registry (ROR) to identify institutions. These different PIDs help in enhancing the research landscape, promoting clarity, accessibility, and collaboration.
The role of scholarly publishers in the adoption of PIDs cannot be overlooked. Initially, the implementation of DOIs for publications was spearheaded by publishers and Crossref. Publishers, especially as part of Crossref, can streamline the workflows for PID utilization among researchers, as well as the collection of PIDs through manuscript submission systems.
1. Streamlining Workflows and Data Management
In today's global research ecosystem, the importance of PIDs is greater than ever. PIDs can track research outputs and streamline interactions among various research segments and stakeholders, while reducing redundancies. For instance, PIDs can help publishers effectively engage users by increasing the discoverability and citability of their publications. Additionally, they enable cost-effective searches across databases, enhancing research accessibility.
To ensure efficient utilization of metadata, it is crucial to have a well-organized system, and this is where PIDs come into play as a structured approach to managing metadata. PIDs can attach standardized information to every digital entity, including crucial elements such as authorship, affiliation, and other relevant details. By leveraging PIDs, organizations can streamline the process of categorizing and retrieving data, ensuring accessibility of valuable information.
2. Enhancing Research Integrity
When it comes to upholding research integrity, technology offers both significant challenges and enormous possibilities. Leveraging PIDs and their associated metadata can present a significant step towards bolstering transparency, a fundamental aspect of research integrity. With its widespread and uniform adoption, PIDs offer a tangible way to interconnect and authenticate various elements of a researcher's work, including publications, grants, and datasets. However, global adoption of PIDs is key to fully realize this potential and requires collaboration among all stakeholders to seamlessly integrate PIDs across all research domains.
DOIs, for example, help identify and link research outputs with entities like researchers, funders, institutions, etc. However, integrating this across research systems and platforms requires collaboration from multiple stakeholders. PID services also offer valuable information about not just the primary source of scientific objects, but also effectively records any modifications made to them, contributing to transparency and trust in research.
Using identifiers for individuals and organizations is crucial for linking research outputs to authors from research organizations or specific funders. This also contributes to enhancing transparency and credibility of the research. Furthermore, the use of identifiers for peer reviewers, while not yet widespread, is gaining importance, particularly given the increasing instances of research misconduct, particularly those related to peer review manipulation. Elsevier, for example, allows sharing of peer review metadata with ORCID once the review process is completed. This enables linking of the review data to the reviewer's ORCID profile, facilitating the monitoring and authentication of peer review activities.
3. Improving Research Discoverability and Impact
The use of PIDs has sparked a shift in sharing and tracking research. The widespread implementation of DOI systems by publishers has simplified the discovery and retrieval of research material, including articles and datasets, well beyond their initial publication. This persistent nature of PIDs is invaluable, ensuring that research outputs can be found and cited with unwavering reliability. PIDs also play a key function in monitoring research impact, providing invaluable understanding of the influence and scope of published works.
4. Supporting FAIR Data Principles
Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) guidelines are crucial in ensuring that data is managed and shared in a way that enables maximum visibility and usability of research. They also play a significant role in promoting open science, enhancing transparency, and facilitating research collaborations.
The significance of PIDs in ensuring the lasting identification of research objects according to FAIR data principles cannot be overstated. Given that PIDs come with their related metadata, separate from the digital object they represent, this metadata helps facilitate the discoverability, accessibility, linking, and sharing of information within scholarly systems. By adhering to FAIR, publishers contribute to creating a more robust and efficient research ecosystem.
Conclusion
By implementing PIDs, publishers can ensure that their publications are easily discoverable, citable, and linkable, contributing to the overall visibility and impact of their journals. PIDs also enhance the integrity of publications by minimizing confusion and mistaken identity, as they offer a persistent link to the correct version of an article, even if it moved over time. Moreover, PIDs facilitate the tracking and monitoring of research outputs, enabling publishers to gather valuable data and insights on usage, citations, and more.
In an era where open science and data interoperability are gaining momentum, embracing PIDs aligns publishers with global standards, enhancing the accessibility of their publications.
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