Tackling PID Adoption Barriers: The German Roadmap Approach

Are fragmented infrastructures, manual metadata workflows, and unclear responsibilities for persistent identifiers (PIDs) hindering the adoption of PIDs across the research community? These challenges are widespread in the German research landscape and that is what the German PID Roadmap aims to address. The roadmap was developed as part of the German Research Foundation DFG-funded project “PID Network Germany” (2023–2026) and offers a coordinated national approach to embedding PIDs throughout the entire research cycle. The goal is not limited to assigning PIDs to publications or researchers. Instead, a comprehensive PID-landscape serves to uniquely identify and systematically link various entities such as datasets, software, instruments, samples, projects, organizations, and cultural assets. Only through these structured connections can research outputs become fully visible, reusable, and machine-actionable. The roadmap is grounded in extensive empirical work. A nationwide survey of scientific and cultural institutions assessed PID adoption, needs, and barriers. Thematic workshops explored use cases of PID implementation, ranging from research data and software to cultural heritage and research information systems. Interviews with PID providers and infrastructure initiatives complemented the analysis. In addition, the national PID Monitor offers a systematic way to track PID usage and entity coverage, ensuring full transparency across the research landscape. Pilot implementations tested metadata guidelines and workflow integration in real institutional settings. These findings identify exactly where to refine structural and technical frameworks to unlock the full power of PIDs and high-quality metadata. The roadmap translates these insights into three strategic fields of action: (1) Strengthening technical infrastructure and interoperability. (2) Establishing governance and policy alignment. (3) Building competencies and coordinated support structures. The draft roadmap was followed by a public comment period and shared with different stakeholders to gather feedback, strengthen relevance, and ensure broad community acceptance. It guides organizations, libraries, infrastructure providers, and funders in creating a coordinated, sustainable PID ecosystem. By attending this presentation, you will gain a structured overview of the German PID landscape, understand the systemic barriers that hinder sustainable adoption, and discover concrete starting points for coordinated national development to PID implementation. You will also see how combining community engagement with qualitative and quantitative evidence creates a robust foundation for policy decisions. Most importantly, you will learn how a national roadmap can be used to transform PIDs from isolated technical tools into strategic infrastructure that strengthen transparency, interoperability, and trust in research.