Recommendation to use stable PID systems to refer to frequently used redundant metadata wherever possible

Recommendation M0

Recommendation to use stable PID systems to refer to frequently used redundant metadata wherever possible

Description

Status: 2025/08/21 14:54 Under development

[1] European Commission: A Persistent Identifier (PID) policy for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)

Motivation for this Recommendation:

[shortened from below]

Recommendation

[shortened from below]

[Format: Wer! macht was! wo! wann! unter welchen Voraussetzungen!]

Binding Convention:

	mandatory	conditional	optional
Helmholtz FAIR Principle

Precondition for Implementation:

Related Recommendations

Parent:

Dependent:

Other: none

Contributors

Names of contributors to this recommendation

Content

1. Explanation of the Background and Benefits of the Recommendation

About

Defintion of PIDs

A persistent identifier (PI or PID) is a long-lasting reference to a document, file, web page, or other object (from Wikipedia).
PID registers typically store core metadata with the PID
PIDs are used in data infrastructures to link to common information
Harmonizing the use of PIDs may improve interoperability of datasets between data repositories

Criteria for the evaluation of PID Systems

PID is globally unambiguously registerable
PIDs are widely used, e.g. recommended by national and international organizations
PID registrar has a transparent governance
Handle system has stable funding
PID system is reliably available and maintained
PIDs have an adequate metadata set
PID registration is open to all (vs. paying users only)
PID is machine readable via API
Further developments are downward compatible (with previous updates, content and technical)
Also: What other PID systems capture the same types of data?

History and structure

Current Use of …

Motivation

2. Possible alternative solutions

3. Consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the recommendation

(quality of content, limitations, interoperability, sustainability: expected future dissemination / technical availability / funding)

4. The Recommendation

[Format: Wer! macht was! wo! wann! unter welchen Voraussetzungen!]

5. Naming of communities that have already implemented the recommendation

6. Documentation of the test to validate correct implementation

7. Examples of Instances

8. Further Information

References

[1] European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, EOSC Executive Board, Hellström, M., Heughebaert, A., Kotarski, R. et al., A Persistent Identifier (PID) policy for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), Publications Office, 2020, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/926037

Table of Contents