Organization IDs in Germany—Results of an Assessment of the Status Quo in 2020

Abstract

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) for scientific organizations such as research institutions and research funding agencies are a further decisive piece of the puzzle to promote standardization in the scholarly publication process—especially in light of the already established digital object identifiers (DOIs) for research outputs and ORCID iDs for researchers. The application of these PIDs enables automated data flows and guarantees the persistent linking of information objects. Moreover, PIDs are fundamental components for the implementation of open science. For example, the application of PIDs for scientific organizations is of crucial importance when analyzing publications and the costs of the transition to open access at an institution. To find out more about the status quo of the use and adoption of organization IDs in Germany, a ‘Survey on the Need for and Use of Organization IDs at Higher Education Institutions and Non-University Research Institutions in Germany’ was conducted among 548 scientific institutions in Germany in the period from July 13 to December 4, 2020, as part of the DFG-funded project ORCID DE. One hundred and eighty-three institutions participated in what was the largest survey to date on organization IDs in Germany. The survey included questions on the knowledge, adoption, and use of organization IDs at scientific institutions. Moreover, respondent institutions were asked about their needs with regard to organization IDs and their metadata (e.g., in terms of relationships and granularity). The present paper provides a comprehensive overview of the results of the survey conducted as part of the aforementioned project and contributes to the promotion and increased awareness of organization IDs.