{"id":1318,"date":"2021-10-29T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/researchoffice\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2021-10-29T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:00:25","slug":"what-are-persistent-identifiers-pids-and-how-can-you-use-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/researchoffice\/what-are-persistent-identifiers-pids-and-how-can-you-use-them\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and how can you use them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our final blog post to mark\u00a0International Open Access Week 2021<\/a>, we aim to explain what is mean by Persistent Identifiers (PIDs), why they are important, and how you can use them as a researcher to ensure your research is better indexed and identified to you as the creator.\u00a0 We expand upon the introduction to PIDs given in Monday’s ‘What is Open Research<\/a>?’ post<\/p>\n

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) aim to be a unique long-lasting reference to digital objects of various types, and are are a core element of open research.\u00a0 They mainly fall into two categories, PIDS for people, and PIDs for objects. URLs are examples of an identifier, as are serial numbers, and personal names, but these are often not permanent, stable, or unique. PIDs were invented to address challenges arising from the expanding internet which is constantly changing and makes it hard to maintain a persistence record of digital objects.<\/p>\n

PIDs are labels that locate, identify and share information about digital objects, because a PID may be connected to a set of metadata describing an object rather than to the object itself. They allow different platforms to exchange information consistently and unambiguously and thus provide a reliable way to track citations and reuse.<\/p>\n

Using PIDs facilitates the discoverability and citation of your research and makes your research\u00a0FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ORCID (Open\u00a0Researcher and\u00a0Contributor\u00a0ID)<\/h2>\n

(https:\/\/orcid.org\/)<\/a><\/p>\n

“ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. You can connect your iD with your professional information \u2014 affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. You can use your iD to share your information with other systems, ensuring you get recognition for all your contributions, saving you time and hassle, and reducing the risk of errors.<\/em>”\u00a0https:\/\/orcid.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Your ORCID allows you to store together all your research outputs within your account, and share them between platforms.\u00a0 The VRE is now able to push data to, or receive data from, your central ORCID account.<\/p>\n

If you sign up to, or connect an existing ORCID account, this should help to reduce workload in relation to managing your publications.\u00a0 Benefits include:<\/p>\n