Persistent identifier: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Long-lasting digital name}}

[[File:FREYA-The-power-of-PIDs-V05-1.webm|thumb|thumbtime=2:38.0|An introduction to persistent identifiers and [[FAIR data]].]]

A '''persistent identifier''' ('''PI''' or '''PID''') is a long-lasting reference to a document, file, web page, or other object.

The term "persistent identifier" is usually used in the context of digital objects that are accessible over the Internet. Typically, such an identifier is not only persistent but actionable:<ref>John A. Kunze, "Towards Electronic Persistence Using ARK Identifiers,", section 3, California Digital Library [https://confluence.ucop.edu/download/attachments/16744455/arkcdl.pdf]</ref> you can plug it into a web browser and be taken to the identified source.

Of course, the issue of persistent identification predates the Internet. Over centuries, writers and scholars developed standards for [[citation]] of paper-based documents so that readers could reliably and efficiently find a source that a writer mentioned in a footnote or bibliography. After the Internet started to become an important source of information in the 1990s, the issue of citation standards became important in the online world as well. Studies have shown that within a few years of being cited, a significant percentage of web addresses go "dead",<ref>{{Cite arXiv | eprint=1105.3459| last1=Sanderson| first1=Robert| last2=Phillips| first2=Mark| author3=Herbert Van de Sompel| title=Analyzing the Persistence of Referenced Web Resources with Memento| year=2011| class=cs.DL}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Vanishing Act: The Erosion of Online Footnotes and Implications for Scholarship in the Digital Age|last=Bugeja|first=Michael|year=2010|publisher=Litwin Books |isbn=978-1936117147}}</ref> a process often called [[link rot]]. Using a persistent identifier can slow or stop this process.

An important aspect of persistent identifiers is that "persistence is purely a matter of service".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kunze|first1=J.|title=The ARK Identifier Scheme|date=5 April 2013 |url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-kunze-ark-18}}</ref> That means that persistent identifiers are only persistent to the degree that someone commits to resolving them for users. No identifier can be inherently persistent, however many persistent identifiers are created within institutionally administered systems with the aim to maximise longevity.

However, some regular [[Uniform Resource Locator|URLs]] (i.e. web addresses), maintained by the website owner, are intended to be long-lasting; these are often called [[permalink]]s.

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== Examples ==

People and organisations:

* [[ORCID|Open Researcher and Contributor ID]] (ORCID)

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* [[International Standard Name Identifier]] (ISNI)

* [[International Standard Book Number]] (ISBN)

[[Uniform Resource Identifier|Uniform Resource Identifiers]]s:

* [[Archival Resource Key]]s (ARKsARK), with 8.2 billion ARKs issued.

* [[Digital Object Identifier]] (DOI)

* [[Handle System]]

* [[Magnet link]]<ref>{{cite web |title=On constructing persistent identifiers with persistent resolution targets |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7733372 |access-date=8 April 2018 |website=IEEE Conference Publication}}</ref> (decentralized, with [[BitTorrent]])

* [[Digital Object Identifier]] (DOI), with 200 million DOIs issued.

* [[Archival Resource Key]]s (ARKs)

* [[Magnet link]]<ref>{{cite webjournal |title=On constructing persistent identifiers with persistent resolution targets |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7733372 |access-date=8 April 2018 |website=IEEE Conference Publication|date=September 2016 |pages=1031–1040 }}</ref> (decentralized, with [[BitTorrent]])

* [[Uniform Resource Name]]s (URNs)

* [[Extensible Resource Identifier]]s (XRIs)

* [[Persistent Uniform Resource Locator]]s (PURLs)

* [[Software Hash Identifier]] (SWHID)

Combined persistent identifier and archiving functionality is provided by services such as the [[Internet Archive]] [[perma.cc]], [[Archive.is|archive.today]], and [[WebCite]] such that anyone can archive a web page to prevent link rot of a URL.

* [[Wikidata]] Identifier (e.g QIDs)

Combined persistent identifier and archiving functionality is provided by services such as the [[Internet Archive]] [[perma.cc]], [[Archive.is|archive.today]], and [[WebCite]] such that anyone can archive a web page to prevent link rot of a URL.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==See also==

* [[Authority control]]

==External links==

*Juha Hakala, [http://www.persid.org/downloads/PI-intro-2010-09-22.pdf "Persistent identifiers – an overview."] Posted to Technology Watch Report (TWR): Standards in Metadata and Interoperability, 13 Oct 2010.

*Hans-Werner Hilse and Jochen Kothe, <!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20161203115538/http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-90-6984-508-3-8/ (ironically, this "identifier" failed to persist -->[http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/edoc/ah/2006/hilse_kothe/urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-90-6984-508-3-8.pdf ''Implementing persistent identifiers: overview of concepts, guidelines and recommendations.''] London / Amsterdam: [[Consortium of European Research Libraries]] and European Commission on Preservation and Access, 2006. {{ISBN|90-6984-508-3}}.

* [https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/f1-meta-data-assigned-globally-unique-persistent-identifiers/ FAIRDATA F1] - F1: (Meta) data are assigned globally unique and persistent identifiers

[[Category:Identifiers]]