2026-10-29 –, LUMC03
Research articles still lack a common way to keep a stable identifier while also supporting precise citation of specific versions. Too often, platforms either overwrite an article so the reference remains stable or mint a new PID for every update, even when that adds cost, citation ambiguity, and metadata overhead. In this session you will see how the revised NISO Journal Article Versions (JAV) recommendations introduce semantic versioning as a clearer alternative to article overwrites or to minting yet another PID. You will learn how semantic versioning can identify the exact version used, when it can work better than assigning another PID, and where a new PID still makes sense. You will also see how this approach affects citations, publisher policies, preprint workflows, and the display of an article's version history.
Do you need a cleaner way to identify article versions without creating a new PID every time something changes? In this session you will see why article versioning remains confusing across repositories, preprint servers, journals, and indexing systems, and how the revised NISO Journal Article Versions recommendations offer a more practical approach.
You will get a concise introduction to the updated JAV model, including the move beyond the 2008 recommendations and the addition of semantic versioning to describe change more precisely. You will see how semantic versioning can help readers, publishers, and repositories distinguish between major, minor, and patch-level updates while keeping a stable reference to the overall work where that makes sense.
You will also see where extra PIDs are useful and where they can create noise, increase cost, create redundant records, or introduce citation uncertainty. The session will use three concrete publishing scenarios, including preprints, corrections to the Version of Record and the challenge of keeping repository copies aligned, and post-publication review models, to show when a work-level PID plus stage and version metadata is enough and when a new PID is still warranted.
This is not an argument against PIDs. It is an argument for using them where they add value and avoiding unnecessary identifier proliferation where version metadata can do the job better.
By the end of the session, you will better understand:
- how semantic versioning can support precise citation of article versions while keeping knowledge connected to the overall work.
- how version relationships should be expressed through metadata and display, not only through changes to PIDs.
- what publishers, platforms, and standards groups may need to update in policy, metadata, and article presentation.
This session is especially relevant if you work with scholarly publishing, repositories, preprint platforms, metadata, or PID infrastructure and want a more transparent, scalable way to manage article version history. You will leave with a clearer framework for deciding when to keep one PID, when to mint another, and what metadata and display changes your systems may need.
Patrick Hargitt is a senior product and technology leader with 30 years of experience across software engineering, platform architecture, and product strategy. He now works independently through Olive Turn, helping publishers navigate how AI and automation are reshaping what content must support. Previously at Wiley’s Atypon division, he led the roadmap and vision for the world’s most widely used scholarly publishing platform. Since 2015, his work has focused on advancing digital publishing platforms and workflows for scholarly communication. Patrick collaborates closely with publishing partners and industry groups to improve accessibility, engagement, and research impact.