For policymakers

Crossref connects research inputs to a wide range of research objects persistently, openly, and at scale, to create an interconnected network of relationships between research organisations, people, things, and actions. This Research Nexus provides a scholarly record that the global community can benefit from and build on, now and in the future. As a policymaker, you can leverage this reach to increase transparency and accountability, meet your strategic ambitions, and maximise and track your policy impacts— all while helping to strengthen the infrastructure that the global research community relies upon.

Policymakers contributions to the Research Nexus

In crafting your open science or PID strategy or policy requirement, you can support the Research Nexus and help to build an open, global research information ecosystem. This includes specifying which open metadata you will need to reach your goals, taking into account inclusive governance and the POSI principles, and setting out clear requirements to help the organisations and researchers you support make the right decisions about which systems and services to adopt.

Infrastructure choices shape the long-term success of a research strategy

National research strategies are most effective when policymakers use consistent, transparent criteria for evaluating PID infrastructure as a whole, including interoperability, sustainability, and governance. So, when developing your policies— whether for open access, data management, or research assessment— identifiers, metadata, and governance need to be evaluated together. Considering all the ways in which infrastructures can make policy compliance easier and more efficient during the policy design phase will enhance strategic insights, support national priorities, and help you to set goals and requirements that are achievable, visible, and measurable.

The benefits of considering open research infrastructure holistically in your policy design

Crossref DOIs, their related metadata, and the services built upon them, enable you to set concrete ambitions for your strategies and to measure progress towards your goals. At the same time, you’ll be boosting other open research infrastructures and delivering efficiency and transparency throughout the research lifecycle, creating an open research infrastructure virtuous circle by:

• Considering specific metadata, governance, functionality, and openness when setting out a strategy or policy aids compliance and accelerates progress
• Emphasising the value of connections and interoperability between systems helps to boost the return on other infrastructure investments (think two-way connections between grant DOIs and ORCID iDs, for example)
• These improved connections within and across infrastructures save researchers and administrators time, helping their institutions to save money
• Better experiences while meeting policy requirements increase researcher compliance rates, leading to better metadata
• Better Crossref metadata improves downstream services, such as CORE, OpenAlex, or OpenAIRE, strengthening the whole open ecosystem
• A stronger open research information ecosystem delivers improved strategic insights, showing the value of your policy interventions and enabling future policies and strategies to work smarter

For more information, read our position paper, PIDs in research infrastructure policy: the need for a holistic approach.

Questions about any of this? Get in touch!