National Persistent Identifier Roadmap and Strategy
On 25 October 2024, Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF) launched Ireland’s National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy Interoperability, Openness, and Impact – Recommendations and Roadmap for an Irish National PID Strategy.
Read about the launch event and watch it back on Vimeo
The Roadmap presents 15 key recommendations and detailed actions aimed at establishing a more efficient, transparent, and open research ecosystem in Ireland, spanning the period until 2030. The objective is to enable seamless information flow between systems and organisations, reduce bureaucratic burdens, and enhance research transparency and integrity. PIDs underpin this vision as they act as critical bridges between entities.
The Roadmap is the final output of the NORF-led project to develop a national roadmap for the adoption of a range of Persistent Identifiers in accordance with A.4.4.2 of the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. This page details how the project developed over the period of October 2023 to October 2024, including how to engage as a stakeholder in the Irish research community.
The National PID Strategy is available to read in the DRI Repository.
The Roadmap was prepared by NORF and the NORF PID Task Force, in consultation with the scholarly communications consultants MoreBrains Cooperative.
Members of the PIDs Task Force were:
- Lisa Griffith, Director at the Digital Repository of Ireland
- Deirdre Quinn, Senior Manager – Research and Research Policy at the Higher Education Authority
- Susan Reilly, Director at Irish Research eLibrary (IReL)
- Frances Madden, Assistant Head of Library Services: Research Services at TU Dublin
- Beth Knazook, Project Manager at the Digital Repository of Ireland
- Cillian Joy, Head of Open and Digital Research at the University of Galway
- Catherine Ferris, Open Scholarship Officer at Irish Research eLibrary (IReL)Jenny O’ Neill, Research Engagement Officer at HEAnet..
A survey was conducted from 11 November to 12 December 2023 to help NORF understand the current state of PID usage among scholarly communications stakeholders in Ireland. We are grateful to have received responses from multiple organisations with key stakeholder groups from across the Irish research ecosystem, including some overseas organisations that serve the community. MoreBrains completed the analysis and incorporated feedback from the core group. We also developed an engagement plan and organised events such as focus groups, a workshop and webinars to engage stakeholders.
Community consultation was conducted, and is reviewed in this presentation; Irish PID community consultation webinar
Based on this, three Irish PID strategy briefing documents for key stakeholder groups were produced:
- Institutional Leads, DOI 10.7486/DRI.r4958f673; Irish PID_Institutional leaders
- Policy Makers, DOI 10.7486/DRI.rb69b735k-1; Irish PID_Policy Makers and funders
- Researchers and Research Managers, DOI 10.7486/DRI.rf56c419f-1; Irish PID_Researchers and research managers
We held a series of virtual and in-person events to provide an update on our progress and to gather additional feedback
Tuesday 25 June 2.00 – 3.00pm: Announcing the national PID strategy and roadmap for Ireland
This webinar gave a high-level overview of the national PID strategy project, including MoreBrains’ recommendations and next steps for the Irish research community.
Speakers: Josh Brown, Phill Jones, & Fiona Murphy, MoreBrains Cooperative
Thursday 6 June 2.00 – 3.00pm: Developing a national PID strategy in consultation with the Irish research community
Community consultation is at the heart of any successful community initiative. In this webinar you’ll hear what was learned during the community consultations undertaken as the national PID strategy has been developed, and have a chance to share your own feedback.
Speaker: Alice Meadows, MoreBrains Cooperative
Friday 17 May 10.30am – 3.30pm: Empowering an Irish national PID strategy
This hybrid full-day event will bring together funders, administrators, research data managers, cultural heritage professionals & researchers to discuss the results and actions recommended in the PID strategy roadmap. The goal will be to explore and develop customised engagement approaches for communities in Ireland that have not engaged with PIDs to date, to encourage uptake and ensure appropriate support for community-specific needs and priorities.
Speakers: Josh Brown, MoreBrains Cooperative & Beth Knazook, Digital Repository of Ireland
Venue: Royal Irish Academy & online
Thursday 2 May 2.30 – 3.30pm: How the Irish Research Community Can Benefit from Widespread PID Adoption
This community webinar is timed to coincide with publication of MoreBrains’ report, Efficiency and insight: A cost-benefit analysis for a central service to support persistent identifier implementation in the Republic of Ireland. Learn about the methodology, process, and high-level findings of this cost benefit analysis, commissioned as part of the PID strategy roadmap.
Speakers: Lisa Griffith, NORF & Phill Jones, MoreBrains Cooperative
In addition to the recommendations and roadmap, a cost-benefit analysis of PID adoption in Ireland was also conducted: Efficiency and insight: a cost-benefit analysis for a central service to support persistent identifier implementation in Ireland. This analysis shows that the cost of investing in a central support service, and of implementing PIDs in 25 publicly-funded, research-performing Irish institutions, would be more than outweighed by the time and cost savings generated by metadata re-use. The estimated efficiency gain is equivalent to more than 4,000 days of staff time savings each year, or nearly €1.8M in staff salary and overhead.
Efficiency and Insight: A cost-benefit analysis for a central support service to support persistent identifier implementation in the Republic of Ireland is published in the DRI Repository and available at DOI 10.7486/DRI.nz80kt123.
The National Open Research Forum is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, through the Higher Education Authority