Skip to main content

(index page)

Developing a US National PID Strategy

Advancing Research through a Unified National PID Strategy

In a recent project facilitated by the Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) and Research Data Alliance US (RDA US), the focus has been on developing recommendations for a US National Strategy for Persistent Identifiers (PIDs). Co-chaired by myself and Todd Carpenter, the ORFG PID Strategies Working Group worked to outline the benefits, challenges, and future steps for a US national approach to PIDs.

Current Landscape and the Need for a National Strategy

The US has actively participated in various international efforts, such as UNESCO’s Open Science toolkit. We also have several national level guidance documents, such as the Holdren Memo, Nelson Memo, and the National Security Strategy for United States Government-Supported Research and Development. However, the development of a national strategy for PIDs has not yet been done. Recognizing this gap, the ORFG PID Strategies Working Group published a set of recommendations. These recommendations, available on Zenodo, aim to improve the application and interoperability of PIDs across the US research community.

Benefits of Adopting PIDs

The adoption of PIDs brings numerous benefits:

Developing a US National PID Strategy

The process of developing a national PID strategy involves several steps:

  1. Community Engagement: Gathering input from various stakeholders, including government agencies, academic institutions, and researchers.
  2. Technical Implementation: Upgrading legacy systems to modern PID infrastructures, ensuring they meet the desirable characteristics such as persistence, global uniqueness, and interoperability.
  3. Governance and Support: Establishing centralized governance structures to manage PID systems and provide ongoing support for their adoption and use.

Moving Beyond Legacy Systems

Legacy systems often lack the granularity and interoperability needed for modern research management. Transitioning from these systems to more sustainable and accessible PID infrastructures is essential. This involves technological updates, workflow changes, and stakeholder engagement to ensure a smooth transition.

Centralized PID Infrastructure

Supporting centralized PID infrastructures is crucial for a unified approach to research management. Centralized systems provide a single source of truth, addressing the diverse needs of stakeholders and fostering collaboration across the research ecosystem.

Areas for Investment

To support the transition to a national PID strategy, investment is needed in several areas:

Next Steps and Measuring Success

The ORFG Strategies Working Group has submitted a proposal to the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) to develop these recommendations into a national standard. The process will include public consultations, community participation, and rigorous vetting to ensure the standard meets the needs of the research community.

Conclusion

As we move forward with these initiatives, it is essential for organizations to reflect on their current use of PIDs and consider how they can support the national strategy. By working together, we can enhance the effectiveness, transparency, and impact of research across the United States and beyond.

For more information and to get involved, please refer to the resources linked below:

We extend our gratitude to the Open Research Funders Group, Helios Open, SPARC, RDA US, and the Pervasive Technology Institute at Indiana University for their support in this endeavor. We look forward to continued collaboration as we advance towards a comprehensive national PID strategy. If you are interested in getting involved, please review our report on Zenodo and join the community discussion at PID Forum: https://pidforum.org/t/developing-a-us-national-pid-strategy-report

Welcome, Adam Buttrick: Introducing UC3’s new Persistent Identifiers Product Manager

Championing PIDs and Open Science at UC3

Adam Buttrick Headshot

Hello! My name is Adam Buttrick and I’m excited to be joining the UC3 team to lead its portfolio of persistent identifier-focused products and services.

Prior to joining UC3, while based at Crossref, I had the privilege to help build a new persistent identifier service, the Research Organization Registry (ROR). My role in this project, scaling ROR’s data infrastructure to support community contributions from thousands of organizations and diverse sources, was a fast-paced journey at the intersection of data science, product management, and community engagement on a global scale. In collaboration with my predecessor, Maria Gould, and with colleagues from Crossref and DataCite, we took ROR from a fledgling service to being a central feature of national level policy in many countries, as well as the institutional model in widely-used services like ORCID and OpenAlex. This work required constant engagement with universities, governments, and funders from around the world and has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in building a future based on open infrastructure and open research information.

As I was witness to in my work on ROR and was constantly cited to me by other organizations, the University of California plays a vital role in the success of so many transformative projects and initiatives. I thus leapt at the chance to help advance these goals and all the other important, necessary work done by the UC system. I’m eager to be a part of this long and storied tradition!

If you’d like to connect or discuss opportunities to collaborate, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me – adam.buttrick@ucop.edu. Here’s to the next chapter and here’s to advancing all things PIDs and open science!

Welcome, Becky Grady: Introducing UC3’s new DMP Tool Product Manager

Hello everyone!  My name is Becky Grady, and I’m thrilled to be joining UC3 to work on Data Management planning.

For the past few years I’ve worked as both a UX researcher and a product manager in the tech industry, working on gaming platforms, account systems, and internal tools.  Before that, I received my PhD in Psychological Science at UC Irvine, studying bias in false memory, fake news, and misinformation under advisors Elizabeth Lofuts and Pete Ditto. 

As a former researcher, I know how important open science practices are at every stage of the process.  I’ve published multiple meta-analyses and know firsthand, both as the requestor and the requestee, of the challenges in finding and sharing data and materials from long ago.  I’ve also conducted many studies, from both academia and industry, about meta-science practices such as survey design and replication processes, because I know how important it is to look at how we conduct research and not just what the output is. 

As a product manager, I know how important it is to provide the right tools for people to get done what they need, understanding their needs and goals to make a great experience for them.  My UX research experience helps me work with users to understand their motivations, getting to their core needs to build the product that does what they need.

I can’t wait to bring my industry and academic experiences together to help in this important area and help plan, track, and preserve critical research data.  Making it easy and intuitive to create and update data management plans, serving the needs of both researchers and institutions, will be core to advancing open science practices.  Excited to work with all of you more!  You can reach me at becky.grady@ucop.edu or connect with me on LinkedIn.