An overview of Organisation Identifiers and the requirements for an open registry. Presented at CASRAI's ReConnect18 in Glasgow (25 June, 2018).

1. Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an
open registry
Christopher Brown
25 June 2018
Reconnect UK

2. Jisc and CASRAI
2
» Jisc CASRAI-UK pilot (2013-16) - Collaborating on an exploratory basis to trial the
‘CASRAI approach’ in the UK https://jisccasraipilot.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
› Data Management Plans
› OpenAccess Reporting
› Organisational Identifiers
» CASRAI-UKChapter – funder and steering committee
» Reconnect sponsor
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Vision:To make the UK the most digitally advanced
education and research nation in the world
Changing how information is collected and
communicated in the research community

3. HEI – an example
325/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
» Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL)
› 1849: Bedford College
› 1879: Royal Holloway College
› 1900: became a constituent college of the University of London
› 1985: merger of Bedford College and Royal Holloway College
» Official registered name: Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (RHBNC)
» Common use: Royal Holloway, University of London
https://flic.kr/p/cyEAi3
CC BY-ND 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

4. Digital Science - GRID
425/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
GRID ID
ISNI ID
HESA Data:
UKPRN: 10005553
INSTID: 0141
Name: Royal Holloway and
Bedford New College
UKPRN
Royal Holloway, University of London
UCAS Data:
Code: R72
Official Name: Royal Holloway,
University of London
Short name: RHUL
Global
Research
Identifier
Database
https://grid.ac/

5. Jisc/CASRAI-UK Pilot
5
OrgIdWorking Group - Outputs
» Landscape Study – a report to inform the Working Group on the current use of
organisational identifiers was commissioned and delivered (Sept 2013)
› http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/5381/
» Review – commissioned by theWorking Group to review a core set of organisational
identifiers (ISNI, Ringgold, Digital Science (GRID) and UKPRN) (Dec 2014)
› http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/5853/
» Use cases – based on key use cases from the Research Lifecycle, these have been
identified by the Working Group and further developed under the OrgId Review (Dec
2014)
› http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/5853/
One single candidate would not fulfil all the criteria, but it would be useful to separate the
infrastructure element (the provision and maintenance of the OrgID itself) and the service
element (the services offered both to registrants and to end users of the services)
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry

6. OrgId Review - Recommendations
6
» A hybrid approach with ISNI as the backbone. Institutions and others needing to register and use
OrgIDs should use a solution which relies on and feeds the minimum data set curated by ISNI
» In considering registration solutions and value-added services, organisations should bear in mind
that, in the short term, Ringgold is the most developed agency conforming to the above
» Other service providers should be encouraged to deliver value added services on top of ISNI, for
example, Digital Science could be a registration agency for ISNIs in a similar way to Ringgold
» Jisc should investigate the possibilities and costs of a bulk deal for UK academic institutions for
value added services with Ringgold and (in time) with other service providers
» Crossref should consider creating and maintaining a crosswalk or table of equivalence between
FundRef IDs and ISNI
» UK stakeholders (BL, HEFCE and others) to consider the need for a UK-based registration agency
(like Bibliothèque nationale de France) and how bulk creation/checking of ISNIs (and bulk
registration and/or the creation of a table of equivalence for UKPRNs) might take place for UK
academic institutions and other organisations involved in research
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Input into…….

7. Impact
7
Overview of Systems Interoperability Project (OSIP)
› Joint RCUK-Jisc project with input and support from ARMA (2015)
› Provide RCUK with advice on how to take advantage of advancements in research
information standards, and the potential for automatic movement of information between
systems (i.e. interoperability).
› https://www.ukri.org/files/legacy/osipreport-pdf/
PT-CRIS Programme (FCT|FCCN)
› Ensure the creation and sustained development of a national Portuguese integrated
information ecosystem, to support research management according to the best international
standards and practices.
› https://ptcris.pt/en/hub-ptcris-en/
OCLC Report
› Working group - OCLC, Jisc, US/Australian universities
› “Addressing the Challenges with Organizational Identifiers and ISNI” report. Examples, use
cases, outreach document – published May 2016
› https://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2016/oclcresearch-organizational-identifiers-and-
isni-2016.html
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry

8. 2016 review
8
» Revisited report and recommendations
» Met with stakeholders involved in original working group
» What’s changed/new:
› British Library an ISNI registration authority
› British Library and RCUK working on test project
› Digital ScienceGRID launched (beta test during review)
› ORCID, DataCite, Crossref workshops (leading to setting up of OrgId working
group)
» Not just a UK solution
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry

9. 2016 update
9
» Recommended ISNI+ as a solution only if the following concerns are addressed:
› Sustainability
› Efficiency
› Support
› Governance
› Openness
» The world has moved on and it seems possible that another solution will emerge and
we are keeping a watching brief
» The issues are important for any new proposed service so they can be presented as
universally, generically applicable
» A solution will only be adopted when key stakeholders have been persuaded to adopt
it and integrate it with their existing systems
» Establishing the benefits are key to selling any solution, but to achieve a consensus
requires community engagement
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry

10. PIDapalooza
1025/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Open identifiers deserve their own festival
» Organised by California Digital Library, Crossref, DataCite, and ORCID
› Rekjavik, Nov 2016
› Girona, Feb 2018
› Dublin, Jan 2019
https://pidapalooza.org/

11. ORCID, Crossref, DataCite
1125/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Organization IdentifierWorking Group (2017)
» Review the current work on OrgIds and define use cases
» Jisc OrgID work fed into report, use cases and discussion, which resulted in 3 papers:
› Organization Identifier Project: AWay Forward
› Organization Identifier Provider Landscape
› Technical Considerations for an Organization Identifier Registry
» Project reports and breakout groups
› RegistryGovernance Recommendations (posted September 2017)
› Registry Product Principles and Recommendations (posted September 2017)
› Organization Identifier Project: Request for Information (posted September 2017)
https://orcid.org/content/organization-identifier-working-group

12. ORCID, Crossref, DataCite
1225/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Organization IdentifierWorking Group (2017)
» Defined recommendations and principles for an open, independent organisation
identifier registry, including using open data to seed the registry, independent
governance structure, a start-up phase inside a non-profit host organisation providing
technical development, operations and other support, and capabilities for organisations
to manage their own record.
» Stakeholder meeting
› https://orcid.org/content/2018-org-id-meeting
› 22 January 2018 prior to PIDapalooza in Girona
› Gathered the respondents to the Organization ID Registry RFI and other stakeholders
to establish a governance structure and governing body to determine next steps for
launching an Open Organisation Identifier registry – Open Persistent Institution
Identifier Registry - OpenPIIR/Onyar.

13. ISNI
1325/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Launch of ISNI Organizations Registry (August 2017)
» ISNI International Agency Ltd (ISNI-IA) announces changes to its infrastructure focused on providing
open identifiers for organisations working in the field of scholarly communications -
http://www.isni.org/content/isni-organizations-registry-identifying-organizations-scholarly-supply-chain
» Milestones:
› Segmentation of the organisation records and respective ISNI IDs into a database with a
searchable user interface
› The ISNI Organization IDs and associated core metadata available to all under a CC0 licence
› Regular data downloads of the entire ISNI Organizations Registry
› An API for retrieval of ISNI IDs and records with the ability to resolve an existing ISNI ID
› An online form for organisations to supply updates to their own record
› A new Advisory Board with representatives of the scholarly communications community to guide
the efforts of the ISNI Organizations Registry
» This development responds to the requirements of the academic research community for
identifying organisations, as articulated in a number of working groups (initiated by Jisc CASRAI-UK,
OCLC, ORCID/Crossref/DataCite, and others)

14. Future
14
» Any registry must address the following concerns:
› Sustainability
› Efficiency
› Support
› Governance
› Openness
» Interoperable – bridging identifier
» A solution will only be adopted when key stakeholders have been persuaded to adopt
it and integrate it with their existing systems
» Establishing the benefits are key to selling any solution, but to achieve a consensus
requires community engagement
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry

15. PIDVision
15By The Library of Congress, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6872417
» “Identifiers act as coordinates on the research map.They both tell us where something
is located, and also act as signposts, guiding us to information sources and helping us
to discover connections between people, ideas, organisations, funding, employment,
publications, activities, and more.”
» Mapping the Persistent Identifier landscape
› PIDVision - https://orcid.org/blog/2018/06/07/mapping-pid-landscape
› Nature article - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05456-8
› PID campaign – launching soon
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry
Contact community@orcid.org if you’d like to get involved.

16. Find out more…
16
Christopher Brown
Senior Co-design Manager,
Jisc
christopher.brown@jisc.ac.uk
@chriscb
Except where otherwise noted, this
work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND
25/06/2018 Overview of OrgIDs and the requirements for an open registry