PIDfest 26

When looking at the term ‘Persistent Identifier’ by itself, the focus is on the ability to enquire and identify entities, and to continue to do so over time. However, most of the value from using PIDs comes from the metadata that is available with the PID record. In this short presentation, we will not only explain how metadata registration enables understanding, but also discuss four different layers of enrichment, namely member updates, community feedback loops, matching, and third-party data sources. We aim to show that enrichment can strengthen the reliability of the scholarly record and build the Research Nexus. We hope that this will provide the community with more insight into ways to optimise the use of metadata and that the session will lead to a lively discussion on how we can improve metadata together.

As the understanding of PIDs has grown – the community – institutions, funders, policy-makers – are looking beyond identifying objects, to realise the systemic value of a connected PID ecosystem. The lion's share of the value of DOIs, ORCIDs, ROR IDs, etc. lies in the relationship metadata illuminating how the identified objects relate to each other. The possibilities to make connections between entities across the system, especially where information about the relationships is included and open, promise opportunities for greater insights, evaluation, and so - more strategic decisions and better informed policy.

In this session, speakers will report recent developments in improving metadata capture and availability across the scholarly ecosystem and open the floor for participants' input on opportunities to further boost the coverage of open metadata for research objects.