Digital Persistent Identifiers (DPIs) or Persistent IDentifiers (PIDs) are long-lasting unique codes made up of a string of letters and numbers that are assigned to different people, objects, or ideas. Two common examples of PIDs are Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs – which you may be most familiar with for journal articles or other online texts) and Open Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCIDs – a free identifier that researchers can claim and attach to their work). Sponsored projects with federal funders will be required to use ORCID starting in 2025.
Why do we care about persistent identifiers? A primary reason is that persons and works may have the same name/title, and a unique identifier fixes that issue by disambiguating them. Another reason is that on-line locations (such as websites and links) may change and break, while PIDs are designed to be updated to point to the current location of the object.
If you have a paper, dataset, or other digital object that needs a DOI, it must be available online. UNL Libraries Research Data Team can help find the right place to deposit your material to generate a DOI. As of summer 2024, the Libraries are also working towards supporting Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) for physical resources. You can contact the Libraries team if you need assistance signing up for – or retrieving – an ORCID.