Measuring the Concept of PID Literacy: User Perceptions and Understanding of PIDs in Support of Open Scholarly Infrastructure

Abstract

The increasing centrality of persistent identifiers (PIDs) to scholarly ecosystems and the contribution they can make to the burgeoning “PID graph” has the potential to transform scholarship. Despite their importance as originators of PID data, little is known about researchers’ awareness and understanding of PIDs, or their efficacy in using them. In this article, we report on the results of an online interactive test designed to elicit exploratory data about researcher awareness and understanding of PIDs. This instrument was designed to explore recognition of PIDs (e.g. Digital Object Identifiers [DOIs], Open Researcher and Contributor IDs [ORCIDs], etc.) and the extent to which researchers correctly apply PIDs within digital scholarly ecosystems, as well as measure researchers’ perceptions of PIDs. Our results reveal irregular patterns of PID understanding and certainty across all participants, though statistically significant disciplinary and academic job role differences were observed in some instances. Uncertainty and confusion were found to exist in relation to dominant schemes such as ORCID and DOIs, even when contextualized within real-world examples. We also show researchers’ perceptions of PIDs to be generally positive but that disciplinary differences can be noted, as well as higher levels of aversion to PIDs in specific use cases and negative perceptions where PIDs are measured on an “activity” semantic dimension. This work therefore contributes to our understanding of scholars’ “PID literacy” and should inform those designing PID-centric scholarly infrastructures that a significant need for training and outreach to active researchers remains necessary.

Exploring ORCID adoption and metadata presence in Spain's research landscape

“…PIDs address the complexities introduced by shifting locations and access methods to information (Meadows et al, 2019). Adopting these identifiers helps track scholarly patterns and keep academic integrity and enhances knowledge networks, proving essential for the scholarly system (Macgregor et al, 2023). By enabling seamless interconnection, interoperability of information, and cross-disciplinary collaborations, PIDs are crucial for maintaining the coherence and continuity of the open science ecosystem, thereby bolstering its core principles of transparency, accessibility, and scientific collaboration (Anglada & Abadal, 2018).…”

“…However, there is a pressing need for user training to avoid inconsistencies and errors (Houghton & Foster, 2024), and dissemination efforts are crucial to address the evident unawareness about their identification, purpose, and utility. This lack of knowledge varies across disciplines and scholarly occupations (Macgregor et al, 2023). In this line, the importance of developing and implementing projects by research institutions, along with promotional campaigns, has been identified as crucial tools for successful ORCID adoption and use within the research community (Aghassibake et al, 2023;Pampel et al, 2024).…”