The pilot phase of the project by the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) for implementation of DOI (Digital Object Identifiers) to persistently identify scientific data sets is now complete. The project, announced in September 2003, has demonstrated the viability of the system and the International DOI Foundation is now pleased to announce the next phase by the appointment of TIB as a full DOI Registration Agency. Approximately 1,500,000 datasets are expected to be registered by TIB by the end of 2005, and the registration of primary data will be widened to other science fields in 2006.

On May 1st 2005 the TIB became the world's first DOI^® registration agency for scientific primary data, working in cooperation with the World Data Center Climate (WDCC) at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, World Data Center MARE at the Alfred Wegener Institute Bremerhaven and at the University Bremen and technically advised by the Research Center L3S Hannover. The consortium is an exemplary collaboration of institutes, German research organisations (Leibniz Association, Max-Planck-Society and Helmholtz Association) and universities.

In its 2004 report "Data and information", the International Council for Science (ICSU) strongly recommended a new strategic framework for scientific data and information. The German research foundation (DFG) project "Publication and Citation of Scientific Primary Data" was part of the program Information infrastructure of network-based scientific-cooperation and digital publication in 2004 and developed a means of publicly registering data sets with a persistent identifier (DOI) and structured basic description.

Whilst scientists are prepared to provide data, extra work is necessary for processing, context documentation and quality assurance to achieve both citation and re-use of data. The classical mode of distributing scientific results is their publication in professional journals, and analysed by "citation index" for a performance evaluation of scientists. Data publications have not been taken into account until now.

Lately, discussion about scientific misconduct resulted in the introduction of new "Rules of Good Scientific Practice and Open Access" by German scientific institutions. These rules include guidelines for data access and long-term data storage to allow for verification of scientific results.

The new concept of primary data publication and citation through a persistent identifier connects scientific long-term data archives and traditional library catalogues in order to provide evidence for scientific data and to make them searchable together with alternative information resources.

The primary data are stored in scientific long-term data archives where the responsibility for valuating and maintaining of the data are located. The research data archives provide a URL where the data can be accessed to the TIB, together with a XML-file containing all relevant metadata for electronic publication. When scientific data are published they can then be used and cited like classical publications in scientific literature, and like scientific articles they cannot be modified any longer.

The TIB preserves this information about the primary data and allocates the primary data a Digital Object Identifier (DOI^®) as unique identifier for registration. Any scientist working with this data is now able to cite the data in his work by using the DOI as unique identification to access the data. Citation is performed according to literature by author, publication year, title of data entity and DOI as unique access reference. By this, scientific primary data have their own identity and are used as an independent information entity.

If a scientist is interested in certain data collections, he can use the online library catalogue TIBORDER of the TIB to search for collections of scientific primary data.

Starting with the field of Earth Science, the consortium has registered 175,000 datasets in a pilot project so far (March 2005); 30 data collections are available via the online library catalogue TIBORDER of the TIB. We expect approximately 1,500,000 datasets to be registered by TIB until the end of 2005. The registration of primary data will be widened to other science fields in 2006.

Dr Norman Paskin, Director of the International DOI Foundation, commented: "The expansion of the DOI system, offering both a persistent identifier and a means of structuring related data, into a new sector is a significant step forward in the evolution of the DOI system beyond its origins. These applications offer a prospect of things to come when digital objects can be managed consistently and interoperably".

Further information:

For further information please refer to the project website < http://www.std-doi.de > or contact Dr Irina Sens (irina.sens@tib.uni-hannover.de).

For information on DOI contact Dr Norman Paskin, International DOI Foundation, n.paskin@doi.org

Earlier related news:

News release - Project announced to develop DOIs for scientific data: German National Library of Science and Technology joins IDF. IDF, September 15, 2003.

About the TIB
The Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) is the German National Library of Science and Technology and its related basic sciences, in particular chemistry, information technology, mathematics and physics. In its role as the German National Library of Science and Technology and the related basic sciences, the TIB has spent decades successfully meeting the challenge of being an innovative and competent information provider. On the basis of its superb holdings, the TIB today ranks as one of the world's largest specialist libraries, and one of the most efficient document suppliers in their subject areas.

About the International DOI Foundation
The International DOI Foundation is a not-for-profit organization created in 1998 to develop and promote the Digital Object Identifier^® system for identifying content in the digital environment. Through the use of standards-based components the DOI allows persistent access and linkage to content and information.