Persistent identifiers play a key role on the erudit.org platform, and, more generally, in the research cycle. Find out more about how these tools support open science and enable the dissemination of knowledge.
When a journal publishes a research article, this event generates an enormous amount of information, recorded on various systems. For example, a researcher’s name is associated with their article in the databases of academic libraries. But what if several people share the same name? How can we guarantee that these pieces of information do not get lost as they move between various databases?
That is where persistent identifiers come into play.
ORCID, DOI, ROR, ISSN… What Are Persistent Identifiers Exactly?
Persistent identifiers (PID) are unique and permanent alphanumerical codes that help clearly identify every entity in the scholarly world: researchers, research institutions and even academic products (like articles, theses or books). These codes ensure a stable link between publications, their authors and their platforms of dissemination, making the world of research easier to navigate. For example, the ISSN (International Standard Serial number) identifier is an 8-character code that identifies journals, magazines and periodicals, no matter their medium. The ISSN identifier is a PID widely used by scholarly journals.
Implementing persistent identifiers contributes to developing an open and fair research ecosystem. Moreover, this practice is promoted by the FAIR Principles that state that research results should be easy to find, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Over these last few years, Érudit has worked on important technical advancements to link these persistent identifiers with the publications disseminated on the platform. Here are three identifiers we are currently using or considering using on our platform.
DOI and URI: To Instantly Locate Publications
You might have noticed that on the erudit.org platform, every article is identified by a URL, and scholarly ones are also assigned a DOI. What do those acronyms mean, though? The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a clickable alphanumerical code that is assigned to a book, an article, or any other digital resource. Here is an example: 10.7202/1101727ar.
By assigning a DOI to a publication, essential information concerning it is transmitted, such as its date of publication, the name of its publisher or the name of its authors. Even if a journal changes publishers or web address, any article published within it will keep the same DOI, allowing users to access it, no matter the hosting website.
As opposed to the DOI, the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) is assigned internally, in our case by Érudit itself. Consequently, an URI like iderudit/1101727ar will always redirect the user to the erudit.org platform.
ORCID: Clearly Identifying Researchers
Created and managed by a non-profit organization, the ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) identifier unambiguously links authors to the list of their publications, preventing any confusion related to similar names.
An ORCID profile can store several professional data points: affiliations, grants, peer reviews, etc. In that sense, it makes it easier to share research results between different platforms and institutions. We have recently begun to display ORCID identifiers, when provided by the journals, next to the authors’ names in the metadata associated with articles on Érudit. You can find an example here.
To learn more about the integration of ORCID within Érudit and its community: https://apropos.erudit.org/service-orcid/.
ROR: Clearly Identifying Institutions
“Organizations are not static entities. They change names, fuse, split up, close down and rise again, which makes it difficult to link research organizations to research results and researchers. A persistent identifier for research institutions simplifies this process.”
Born of a community initiative, the ROR (Research Organization Registry) identifier allows the research community to quickly and reliably identify research organizations. This includes both infrastructures, like Érudit, and universities. This identifier rests on a collaborative open-infrastructure model, accessible for free.
Érudit is currently taking an in-depth look at the possibility of displaying this persistent identifier on the platform, which is itself in the adoption phase within the community. In 2024, we reached an important milestone, as we now have our own ROR identifier: https://ror.org/05xay3m79. If it is not yet the case, you can request for your organization to be added to the ROR registry: https://ror.org/registry/.
A Cornerstone Collaboration for Open Science
The adoption of persistent identifiers by the scientific community represents a long-term challenge, requiring close collaboration between close stakeholders: universities, libraries, research funds, platforms… and especially the research teams themselves!
For the DOIs, the Crossref organization plays a key role in enabling their deployment, not only on our platform, but also within our community. As for the development of ORCID identifiers in Canada, that project has been carried forward by ORCID-CA, an organization with which we collaborate closely. This organization promotes a dynamic community of practice and the adoption of these identifiers by Canadian researchers.
In the months to come, we will redouble our efforts to optimize the use of these tools and to promote their many benefits to our community.