Research Activity Identifier – RAiD
Description
‘RAiD’ is an acronym for ‘Research Activity Identifier’. It is a unique, persistent identifier (PID) for research projects and activities. RAiD is developed, maintained, and operated by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) in its role as Registration Authority under ISO 23527:2022, in cooperation with RAiD Registration Agencies.
RAiD identifies projects and provides storage and retrieval of project information via an open system, using an identifier and an associated metadata record. The RAiD metadata record stores project information for long-term discovery, resolution, access, sharing, reporting, and other uses by the global research community.
Objectives
A key challenge for researchers is keeping track of project activities across the research lifecycle. Unlike a grant, which a researcher receives, a project is something that a researcher does. Project information is dynamic; what is planned is not necessarily what is delivered, while project contributors and organizations may change over time. Similar to a container with a label, RAiD provides a unique, persistent identifier (a DataCite DOI) for each research project. As the project evolves, information about project personnel, organizations, inputs, and outputs is added to the RAiD container, producing a project and capturing information about relationships between resourcing and outcomes.
Partnership
RAiDs are issued by RAiD Registration Agencies (RAs) appointed by ARDC (as the ISO RAiD Registration Authority). Each RAiD RA operates an instance of the RAiD service for a particular region or constituency. RAiD RAs will use DataCite services to issue DOIs as RAiD identifiers, and submit a subset of RAiD metadata to DataCite. The full metadata record, tailored to the requirements of research project tracking, is stored in the RAiD service. Individual RAiD services are then federated into the global RAiD system. This architecture will not only yield a robust and scalable global system, but will produce a seamless experience for RAiD users. RAiD is a trailblazer service, and through the partnership with DataCite, RAiD is now enabled by world-class DOI infrastructure.
Additional Information
FAQ
- Do I need to be a DataCite Member to register RAiDs?
- RAiDs are registered through RAiD Registration Agencies (RAs) and these RAs are members of DataCite. The RAiDs are registered under their membership.
- How do I find the right RAiD Registration Agency for me?
- Please contact support@datacite.org and we can point you to the relevant Registration Agency. If you are interested in starting a new RAiD RA, please contact ARDC at contact@raid.org.
- What are the costs of registering a RAiD through DataCite?
- RAiD registration will follow the normal DataCite fee model, which can be found on the DataCite website.
- Which resource type do I use in the metadata when registering a RAiD?
- RAiDs will be registered by RAiD Registration Agencies through DataCite’s standard processes and will in the interim will use the resourceTypeGeneral “Other” designation with “Project” sub-type. DataCite is currently working on adding resourceTypeGeneral "Project" and a RAiD-specific repository type to support unique API calls for RAiDs.
- Is it possible to distinguish RAiDs from other DOIs?
- Yes, it will be possible to filter (or limit) RAiDs in API calls as well as uniquely distinguish them in user interfaces. RAiDs will resolve to the RAiD landing pages via raid.org.
Contact
Helena Cousijn
Community Engagement Director
Helena leads the DataCite Engagement team and is responsible for all DataCite’s membership and community activities. She’s committed to DataCite’s mission and passionate about making DataCite services available globally. Before joining DataCite, Helena worked as Senior Product Manager for Research Data Management Solutions at Elsevier. She holds a DPhil in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford.