Persistent Identifier (PID) Services

GWDG operates services for the creation of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) that reference digital objects and make them findable and citable in the long term. This service is part of ePIC, an international collaboration to establish a trusted, high-availability service.

The PIDs created and maintained are based on the Handle System. Every handle consists of two parts prefix/suffix: its namespace, otherwise known as its prefix, and a unique local name under the namespace, otherwise known as its suffix. ePIC prefixes are allocated in the top level namespace// 21., hence have the format //21.xxxx. ePIC PIDs have the format 21.xxxx/xxxx and can be generated under a gprefix 21.xxxx, with each suffix uniquely identifying an individual digital object within this namespace. Thanks to the combination of prefix and suffix, any handle PID is globally unique within the context of the Handle System.

Our PID self-service is part of the AcademicCloud and is available to researchers affiliated with institutions in Lower Saxony. If you occasionally want to generate single PIDs, the self-service allows you to create, edit, and resolve PIDs. Your PIDs can be enriched with flexible, user-configurable metadata. If the storage location of the referenced data object changes, the user should update the URL via the tool to ensure the continued findability of the resource.

PIDs generated by the service can be resolved using the global Handle Resolver. To link directly to the resource behind a PID, simply append the generated PID to the resolver’s URL. For example, the URL https://hdl.handle.net/21.11101/0000-0007-D649-6 resolves to https://gwdg.de. For more detailed information, please refer to the documentation of the self-service.

If you would like to generate larger numbers of PIDs, for example, within a project, your institutional repository, or other tools, please contact us for individual consultation at support@pidconsortium.net.

We offer our customers four packages with different service scopes (see Table 1). Our service consists of:

• Prefix administration: To use our PID service, an institution has to acquire a PID (ePIC) prefix, which is charged a one-time fee of 45 € and an annual administrative fee of 45 €.
• Infrastructure Hosting: GWDG hosts your PID infrastructure such that you can directly get started. A yearly fee is charged depending on the number of PIDs that is to be generated.

A contract allows you to create PIDs and perform unlimited number of updates. Once the contract expires, you will only be able to update the PIDs.

Table 1: Cost of the different packages (not including VAT)

Institutions have the option to self-host all required PID infrastructure, including the Handle primary server and database. Hint: Self-hosting PID infrastructure requires technical capacity and is not recommended except you have special technical requirements for your service that assigns PIDs.

If you would like to receive multiple PID prefixes for different use-cases, the prizes for each package are summed up. For example, if you choose to the small package and the medium package, a total fee of 45 € + 45 € + 690 € (small package) + 45 € + 45 € + 1,360 € will be charged in the first year