Australian National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy: Accelerating Research Excellence and Impact

The ARDC is pleased to unveil the 2024 Australian National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy, a coordinated, comprehensive and collaborative approach to accelerate Australian research and innovation through universal use of connected Persistent Identifiers (PIDs).

PIDs: Benefits and Trends

PIDs are universal, machine-readable, interoperable codes that positively identify and connect research and innovation entities such as researchers and innovators, funders, organisations, datasets, articles, projects, software, instruments and samples. They allow us to manage the complex and distributed ecosystem and to derive insights that will accelerate research and impact. 

The 2022 report Incentives to Invest in Identifiers, commissioned by the ARDC and the Australian Access Federation (AAF), finds significant savings to the Australian research system if a coordinated, comprehensive and collaborative approach to PIDs is in place. For example, ARC’s integration of ORCID into their grant management system is estimated to have saved researchers up to 3 or 4 days per grant application.

There is growing momentum nationally and internationally to better leverage data stemming from research and about research and to harness the potential offered by PIDs. Many countries, including the UK and Canada, have begun developing a national approach to PIDs to underpin their research and innovation ecosystems.

The Strategy

In light of the benefits of PIDs, the ARDC led a coordinated, comprehensive and collaborative process to develop a national PID strategy for Australia. Guided by a National PID Strategy Taskforce of key sector stakeholders, the process involved extensive consultation through national workshops, working groups, webinars and an open call for individual and group submissions. A draft Strategy was released in July 2023 and refined through extensive and open co-design, consultation and engagement with the sector.

The final Strategy, presented by the ARDC’s CEO Rosie Hicks at the February 2024 Universities Australia Deputy Vice Chancellors-Research (DVC-R) meeting, sets the vision to “accelerate Australian research quality, efficiency and impact through universal use of connected persistent identifiers”. It highlights the role PIDs can play in achieving the following:

Improving research quality and efficiency

1. Increasing the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reuse (FAIR) inputs to research
2. Increasing the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reuse of research outputs
3. Improving research reproducibility, provenance and attribution while minimising administrative burden, enabling researchers to spend more time on research.

Optimising the national research and innovation ecosystem

1. Improving our ability to understand the impact of research inputs and evaluate research quality, impact and evidence of public benefit
2. Improving our ability to map Australia’s research capability.

Natasha Simons, Director, National Coordination, ARDC, said: “The National PID Strategy is a major step forward for the Australian research sector. It builds on the success of the Australian ORCID Consortium led by AAF and the national-scale PID infrastructure provided by the ARDC in collaboration with international PID providers. It lays the foundations for development of a national collaborative roadmap that will deliver the vision.”

PIDs and the Australian Universities Accord

Linda O’Brien, who is co-designing the Strategy with the ARDC and previous chair of the international ORCID Board, said it will support a number of areas in the recently released Australian Universities Accord.

“PIDs increase the uptake of university research by making it more FAIR. They demonstrate effective use of research expertise, capability and the application of research by linking elements across the research and innovation ecosystem.

“Overall, the Strategy will help us better understand Australia’s research capability to address the nation’s pressing economic, social, health and environmental challenges by mapping our researchers, organisations, research services and infrastructure.”

Implementing the National PID Strategy

The Strategy will be enabled by a collaboratively developed national roadmap, which will be regularly refreshed and extended. The Roadmap is a co-design process in which stakeholders will be invited to develop and collaborate on action plans that advance the PIDs agenda. Stay informed and find out how to engage with the Roadmap development by subscribing to the ARDC Connect newsletter.

Acknowledgements

The ARDC would like to thank everyone who has engaged with the Australian National PID Strategy consultation process and contributed to its development. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Australian National PID Strategy Taskforce:

• Professor Keith Nugent, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), ANU
• Judi Zielke, CEO, Australian Research Council 
• Tony Rothnie, Director, Department of Education
• Linda Arnold, Director, Department of Education
• Dr Julie Glover, Executive Director, Research Foundations, NHMRC
• Semira Dautovic, Director, Research Performance and Development, Macquarie University
• Heath Marks, CEO, Australian Access Federation 
• Rikke Andersen, Senior Policy Analyst, Research and Innovation, Universities Australia
• Dr Joe Shapter, Chair, Australian ORCID Governance Committee
• Oona O’Gorman, Director, Research Security and Integrity, ARC
• Dr Shawn Ross, Product Manager (RAiD), ARDC
• Dr Adrian Burton, Deputy CEO, ARDC
• Natasha Simons, Director, National Coordination, ARDC
• Linda O’Brien, Strategy Consultant for ARDC
• Matthias Liffers, Executive Officer to Taskforce, ARDC.

Read the full Australian National Persistent Identifier Strategy. 

The ARDC is also hosting PIDfest, an international summit on PIDs, in Prague in June 2024 alongside the Czech National Library of Technology (NTK). Learn more.

The ARDC is funded through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.