Persistent Identifiers: Addressing the challenges of global adoption – COAR

"The aim of this blog post is to raise awareness about certain issues related to the adoption of persistent identifiers (PIDs), which especially impact developing countries and to propose an alternative approach that will enable greater global inclusiveness and more widespread adoption of PIDs across the world....

While the original aim of PIDs services was to offer persistence, some DOI Registration Agencies  or “RAs” (2) have been developing value-added services with the metadata they collect, which is then repurposed as part of a value-added service offering, turning it into a kind of managed research ecosystem. At least two DOI-based aggregations (Crossref and Datacite) have been created for the purpose of discovery, tracking, and analysis of research production....

Firstly, there are substantial cost barriers to the adoption of DOIs for organizations in developing countries. The costs of minting DOIs (or joining DataCite or Crossref – even as a consortium) makes them unaffordable in many parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where there are often little or no budgets for these types of services....

Possibly more problematic than the cost issue is the risk of monopolization. A global requirement for a DOI (and therefore to be represented in the metadata aggregation) by funders and governments in order for a resource to be “counted” or considered “legitimate” has the potential to create a quasi-monopolistic system, which gives a few players undue influence and introduces the risk of profiteering....

Instead of focusing our efforts on the centralization and use of a few selective DOI services – which will end up excluding many due to financial barriers – the best way forward is for institutions, countries, and regions to choose the PID service that is most suitable in their own local context and conditions. Only in this way can we ensure the broadest possible adoption of PIDs across the scholarly landscape. And, while there is a value proposition for focusing on just one or two global PID services, the risks of creating a “haves” and “have nots” universe must be avoided...."