2026-10-28 –, LUMC03
The Digital Object Container Identifier (DOCiD), developed by the Africa PID Alliance, creates a federated framework that transforms fragmented research identifiers into interoperable, machine-actionable digital objects. By integrating ORCID, ROR, Ringgold, CSTR, DataCite, Crossref, Handle, and RAiD, DOCiD aggregates researchers, institutions, outputs, projects, and infrastructure into a single structured container aligned with FAIR Digital Object principles. This session showcases DOCiD’s architecture, highlighting layered PID integration and real-world applications in research, repositories, and international collaborations. Special focus is on Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Heritage systems, where DOCiD ensures ethical governance, provenance tracking, and CARE-compliant stewardship. Participants will learn how DOCiD strengthens global interoperability, supports research infrastructures, and elevates Africa’s role in research innovation. The session features expert PID presentations and a live demonstration, providing practical insights into PID federation, containerization, and the transformation of identifiers into socially impactful, FAIR+CARE-compliant research objects.
Despite their increasing adoption and technical maturity, many Persistent Identifier (PID) systems still operate as independent infrastructures rather than as integrated components within a structured digital object environment. Systems that identify researchers, institutions, research outputs, grants, and projects—while individually robust—often function in parallel with limited interoperability. As a result, the full potential of PIDs to support machine-actionable research ecosystems, transparent attribution, and trusted scholarly communication remains only partially realized. Without mechanisms to connect these identifiers into coherent digital objects, relationships between researchers, institutions, outputs, and funding sources remain fragmented across disconnected systems.
The Digital Object Container Identifier (DOCiD), is a PID developed by the Africa PID Alliance, addresses this challenge by operationalizing the FAIR Digital Object (FDO) framework within a federated infrastructure model. DOCiD functions as a structured digital container that aggregates multiple PID types into a unified, machine-actionable research object. Rather than acting as a standalone identifier, DOCiD provides a framework through which identities, institutions, datasets, publications, research projects, and infrastructure can be linked within a single governed structure. Through this containerized approach, DOCiD transforms fragmented identifiers into coherent digital objects that are discoverable, interoperable, and reusable.
At the core of this architecture are typed relationships and governance metadata that define how different PIDs interact within the container. By establishing explicit connections between entities—such as researchers, institutions, funding sources, research outputs, and infrastructure—DOCiD creates a structured network of relationships that machines can interpret and process. This capability improves discovery, supports advanced analytics, and enables more reliable knowledge exchange across research systems. In doing so, DOCiD strengthens Open Science practices, facilitates cross-border collaboration, and promotes more equitable participation in global research infrastructures.
An important innovation of DOCiD is its ability to bridge globally recognized PIDs with locally governed identifiers. In many countries, particularly across Africa and other emerging research regions, national identification numbers and other locally assigned identifiers are widely used within administrative and research systems but remain disconnected from global scholarly infrastructure. Within the DOCiD architecture, these local identifiers—including national IDs—can be securely referenced and mapped to global PIDs. This mapping enables interoperability between local and international systems while respecting national data governance policies, identity sovereignty, and privacy protections.
DOCiD also supports the stewardship of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and Cultural Heritage (CH), where provenance tracking, ethical governance, and community attribution are essential. By structuring these resources within a governed digital object container and aligning with both FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles, DOCiD enables interoperable, trusted, infrastructures that safeguard the provenance, rights, and ethical stewardship of Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Heritage systems.
Joy Owango is an internationally recognized leader in Open Science advocacy, research infrastructure development, and scholarly communication in Africa. She is the Executive Director of the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), the first Africa-based centre dedicated to strengthening scientists’ skills in scholarly and science communication, enhancing research visibility and impact across the continent.
Owango is also a co-founder of the Africa PID Alliance, a pan-African initiative advancing the adoption and integration of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) to strengthen research discovery, attribution, and interoperability in African research ecosystems. Through this work, she has championed the development of DOCiD (Digital Object Container Identifier), a federated PID container that links identifiers such as ORCID, ROR, CSTR, Crossref, DataCite, RAiD, and Handle into machine-actionable research objects aligned with FAIR Digital Object principles.
Her work promotes responsible data governance, equitable participation in global research infrastructure.