Community Recommendation for a Persistent Identifier (PID) Policy for the European Open Science Cloud (Version 2.0)

This Persistent Identifier (PID) policy is written for senior decision makers within existing and potential EOSC service and infrastructure providers and supports all EOSC stakeholders. It defines a set of expectations about what persistent identifiers are, and how they will be used to support a well-functioning FAIR-compliant research environment. Requirements for providers and the basic services they offer are also outlined. This PID policy also serves as a guideline to align different PID implementations enabling an interoperable identification of resources for FAIR research.

This document sets out to inform the use of PIDs in the EOSC ecosystem, providing an overview of PID terminology, structures, types and governance. EOSC-affiliated organisations should use this document to inform their own PID policies. The current version (v2.0) of the PID Policy is not yet approved by the EOSC Association or the relevant EOSC governing body; and as such, it is not an official EOSC policy document, but a community recommendation.