Isn’t a Number and a URL Enough?

Abstract

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are an integral part of research data management and can be found throughout the entire lifecycle of research data. However, their ability to function – to ensure persistence – depends on numerous factors: technical infrastructure, international standards and best practices and their dissemination, agreements on long-term governance of infrastructures, etc. Their applicability is diverse and requires adaptation to the resources and entities referenced by them. The paper describes two projects – PID4NFDI and PID Network Germany – that aim to address these challenges.