The power of using open persistent identifiers in the research ecosystem

One of the key concepts in open science is sharing, but this may not be in place without open research infrastructure. In the current era, the results and models of publication and dissemination of science grow rapidly and science becomes increasingly interconnected and global. Researchers, librarians, research institutions, funding bodies and governments must rise to the challenge, they must recognize and demonstrate the impact of all types of research contributions. Each interested party invests in different sources and types of information, which makes the integration and completeness of the academic record (scholarly record) difficult.
At this juncture, and driven by the increasing digitization of the world, the open science paradigm emerges, which has transparency, inclusion and reproducibility among its fundamental pillars (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2021). Thus, this presentation will contextualize the role played by persistent identifiers (PIDs) in the framework of open science; present the experience from ORCID and its joint work on open research infrastructures; and discuss its adoption.
Openness, reliability, identifiability and interoperability of scientific information are increasingly relevant aspects for the scientific community and open research infrastructure. Within open research infrastructure, one of the pillars of Open Science, persistent identifiers are established as a main building block, enabling interoperability between entities such as authors, outputs and institutions. To consolidate and maintain best practices around them, ORCID have fostered the development of communities of practice in the adoption of open persistent identifiers. This presentation will frame identifiers within the framework of Open Science and the FAIRification of scientific information.
Persistent identifiers (PIDs) – for people (researchers), places (their organizations) and things (their research outputs and other contributions) – are foundational elements in the overall research information infrastructure. They enable these entities to be uniquely identified and connected, to create reliable links between them (Meadows, Haak, & Brown, 2019).
In practice, Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) can act as signposts and coordinate, pointing to information sources and showing connections between research and researchers. Individually, each of these identifiers is useful, but their value rises exponentially when they are used collectively in digital workflows, where trusted connections between them can be created and easily shared. This presentation will cover the concepts of open infrastructures and PIDs, as well as their role in the context of open science and their relationship with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles.
That is why it is important to highlight and promote the importance of the use of persistent identifiers in information, funding and research systems with the aim of supporting communities of practice in the use of open research infrastructure to build the tools that support the open research. We are only at the beginning of a long road that has just begun.