A persistent identifier is a long-lasting reference to a digital resource.
An identifier is a label which gives a unique name to an entity: a person, place, or thing. Unlike URLs, which may break, a persistent identifier reliably points to a digital entity. Learn more about persistent identifiers.
The above text on PIDs is from ORCiD.
PIDs help people reliably identify and locate specific resources. Using a PID will expand access to your research and data, ensure that your work is correctly connect to you as a researcher, and encourages more citation and usage.
Interested in a bit more information about what PIDs are and why they matter? Take a look at this webinar from Northeastern University Library.
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a free persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher.
You can connect your iD with your professional information — affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. You can use your iD to share your information with other systems, ensuring you get recognition for all your contributions, saving you time and hassle, and reducing the risk of errors. ORCID works closely with Crossref, DataCite, and many other PID organizations to build trusted connections between iDs and other identifiers.
What is ORCID? from ORCID on Vimeo.
Curious on how ORCiD? Check out these great resources outlined by McGill University.
DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are unique numbers assigned to digital objects and will not change over time. DOIs are usually found in the abstracts or TOCs, at the top or bottom of a journal article. Unfortunately, Cal Poly Pomona is unable to provide DOIs directly to researchers -- we hope this changes in the future!
Additional information on DOIs can be found through Wikipedia and the official DOI homepage.
Though not specifically a persistent identifier, a permalink or permanent link is a URL that is intended to remain unchanged for many years into the future, yielding a hyperlink that is less susceptible to link rot. Permalinks are often rendered simply, that is, as clean URLs, to be easier to type and remember. Most modern blogging and content-syndication software systems support such links. Sometimes URL shortening is used to create them. Curious to learn more about how to create permalinks? Check out perma.cc.
The above text on permalinks is from Wikipedia.