Digital Identifiers and Metadata for the IVS

The International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) is committed to providing quality data and products in support of geodetic, geophysical and astrometric research and operational activities through good Research Data Management (RDM) practices. The use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) can contribute significantly to making data and products generated by the IVS community Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). A DOI is permanent and can therefore always be used to locate the data object to which it refers. An exploratory study to determine best practices for attributing DOIs to datasets and products of the IVS community has been initiated. We report on progress with the investigation and provide recommendations.