{"id":4697,"date":"2026-02-23T09:56:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/libraryresearchnews\/?p=4697"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:09:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:09:25","slug":"why-persistent-identifiers-matter-in-research-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/libraryresearchnews\/2026\/02\/23\/why-persistent-identifiers-matter-in-research-publishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Persistent Identifiers matter in research publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers have witnessed exponential growth in the number of journals and articles published over the past few decades. Much of this expansion is often attributed to the public introduction of the internet in 1993. However, it has also created challenges such as broken links, researcher name ambiguity, and difficulty in distinguishing between different articles and journals. To address these challenges, persistent identifiers (PIDs) were introduced.<\/p>\n

Persistent identifiers are unique, long-lasting, and machine-resolvable codes that serve as permanent references to digital objects, people, or organisations on the web. Unlike standard URLs, PIDs ensure that resources remain accessible even if their location changes, making them essential for scholarly publishing processes.<\/p>\n

Some of the key features of PIDs include reliability and resolvability. A PID never changes and therefore helps to avoid broken links. Each PID is a unique identification and assists with the disambiguation of authors, research data, publications and more. The embedded metadata often found in PIDs provides more context, for example publisher details and publication dates.<\/p>\n

The following common types of PIDs are available in the research and publishing environment:<\/p>\n