Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)

Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) can be used to ensure accurate and stable referencing of your work.

What are Persistent Identifiers?

Persistent Identifiers (PID) ensure accurate and stable referencing of publications, software, data, projects, people and organisations.

For example:

Sharing the Handle or DOI of an article is the most reliable way of ensuring that the link takes people to your work, regardless of website changes.
Using an ORCID ensures you are recognised for all your publications, even if you have published under different variations of your name or at different institutions.

A Persistent Identifier (PID) is a unique number or code that is used to identify a specific thing. PIDs include:

Objects (publications, software, data)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Handle
Uniform Resource Name (URN)
Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)
International Standard Serial (or Book) Numbers (ISSN or ISBN)
Archival Resource Key (ARK)

People (researchers, authors, contributors)

Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID)
International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI)
Web of Science Researcher ID
ArXiv Author ID
PubMed Author ID

Projects and organisations

Research Organisation Registry (ROR)
Research Activity Identifier (RAiD)
International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI)

Using and sharing PIDs can help you track the impact of your research. The PIDs most relevant to University of Bristol researchers are DOI, Handle, ORCID. The University has been assigned a ROR. More detail on these PIDs is provided below.

PIDs for Objects

PID	Description
DOI	Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to journal articles, books, datasets, and other digital objects. The two most common Registration Agencies who provide DOIs in the UK are DataCite and CrossRef. Most publishers will assign a CrossRef DOI to the Version of Record of a publication on the publisher’s website and the DOI will always lead to the publication even if the URL changes, such as when a journal changes publishers. The University of Bristol uses DataCite to mint (register) Bristol DOIs in certain circumstances: Datasets published in the University’s Research Data Repository (data.bris) will automatically be assigned a DOI For certain other research output types, the library can mint a DOI by request (see our guide to Getting a DOI for your publication)
Handle	The Handle System creates a persistent link to an object, making it easier and more reliable to cite than a URL. Handles are the basis for DOIs. They will protect against changes to the URL and can be used to provide Altmetrics statistics. The University of Bristol’s institutional repository (Pure) automatically assigns a Handle to public output records in the Bristol Research Portal. (See our guidance on Finding your Pure Record’s Handle.)

PID

Description

DOI

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to journal articles, books, datasets, and other digital objects.

The two most common Registration Agencies who provide DOIs in the UK are DataCite and CrossRef.

Most publishers will assign a CrossRef DOI to the Version of Record of a publication on the publisher’s website and the DOI will always lead to the publication even if the URL changes, such as when a journal changes publishers.

The University of Bristol uses DataCite to mint (register) Bristol DOIs in certain circumstances:

Datasets published in the University’s Research Data Repository (data.bris) will automatically be assigned a DOI

For certain other research output types, the library can mint a DOI by request (see our guide to Getting a DOI for your publication)

Handle

The Handle System creates a persistent link to an object, making it easier and more reliable to cite than a URL.

Handles are the basis for DOIs. They will protect against changes to the URL and can be used to provide Altmetrics statistics.

The University of Bristol’s institutional repository (Pure) automatically assigns a Handle to public output records in the Bristol Research Portal. (See our guidance on Finding your Pure Record’s Handle.)

PIDs for People

PID	Description
ORCID	An Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID) is a PID that ensures you are correctly attributed in your research outputs, no matter how common your name. It distinguishes you from other researchers throughout your career and, links your publications, grants, datasets, peer review activities and affiliations. Using an ORCID simplifies funding applications, manuscript submissions and institutional reporting. Some funders and publishers may require you use ORCID. The University strongly encourages all academic staff and postgraduate research students to register for an ORCID. Getting an ORCID takes only a few minutes and can be done through Pure. Please see the Pure and ORCID webpage for more information.

PID

Description

ORCID

An Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID) is a PID that ensures you are correctly attributed in your research outputs, no matter how common your name. It distinguishes you from other researchers throughout your career and, links your publications, grants, datasets, peer review activities and affiliations.

Using an ORCID simplifies funding applications, manuscript submissions and institutional reporting. Some funders and publishers may require you use ORCID.

The University strongly encourages all academic staff and postgraduate research students to register for an ORCID. Getting an ORCID takes only a few minutes and can be done through Pure. Please see the Pure and ORCID webpage for more information.

PIDs for projects and organisations

PID	Description
ROR	The Research Organization Registry (ROR) is a registry of open persistent identifiers for research institutions, such as universities, companies, labs, government organisations, non-profit organisations, research centres, hospitals and labs. RORs assigned to the University of Bristol include: The University of Bristol: 0524sp257 The University of Bristol Dental Hospital: 027a33v57 Bristol Robotics Laboratory: 056sbyc67
RAiD	The Research Activity Identifier (RAiD) is a global registry for research projects. A RAiD allows you to easily and clearly share project information throughout the research lifecycle. It acts as a container for the project description and related activities, collecting identifiers for people, publications, instruments and institutions. RAiD is a global standard. In the UK, UKRI are the first major research funder to integrate RAiD into its funding workflows; awards from 2024 onwards have a RAiD.

PID

Description

ROR

The Research Organization Registry (ROR) is a registry of open persistent identifiers for research institutions, such as universities, companies, labs, government organisations, non-profit organisations, research centres, hospitals and labs.

RORs assigned to the University of Bristol include:

The University of Bristol: 0524sp257

The University of Bristol Dental Hospital: 027a33v57

Bristol Robotics Laboratory: 056sbyc67

RAiD

The Research Activity Identifier (RAiD) is a global registry for research projects. A RAiD allows you to easily and clearly share project information throughout the research lifecycle. It acts as a container for the project description and related activities, collecting identifiers for people, publications, instruments and institutions.

RAiD is a global standard. In the UK, UKRI are the first major research funder to integrate RAiD into its funding workflows; awards from 2024 onwards have a RAiD.