Prague, April 3, 2025: A cost-benefit analysis finds that the time savings from widespread adoption of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in Czech institutions could save over 7,000 person days per year. This equates to total potential savings of 33 million Czech crowns annually.
It is widely recognised that researchers and research staff – in the Czech Republic and around the world – face a heavy administrative burden, including through manual rekeying of the same information multiple times throughout the research cycle, in grant applications and awards, research publications and reporting, and more. This issue is reflected in the National Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization of the Czech Republic 2021 – 2027 (the RIS3 strategy), as well as the Innovation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2019-2030, which emphasises the need to “avoid the obligation to re-provide information already submitted earlier.”
Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are digital tools that uniquely and persistently identify entities in the research cycle. A number of studies have shown that PID implementation and adoption lead to significant efficiencies by reducing the need for manual rekeying. In 2024, therefore, as part of the CARDS (Czech Academic and Research Discovery Services) project, the Czech National Library of Technology (NTK) commissioned MoreBrains Cooperative Ltd (UK) to develop a cost-benefit analysis of selected PIDs in Czech research systems. The methodology used focused on increasing the automated reuse of metadata associated with PIDs, and the time savings and efficiencies that this can generate.
The goals of the project were to independently evaluate and quantify current usage of selected ‘priority’ PIDs (DOI for research results, ORCID for researchers, DOI for grants, RAiD for research activities, and ROR for research institutions) in the Czech Research & Development (R&D) environment as of 2024, and – more importantly – to assess the potential benefits of further expanding the use of these PIDs. The results are available in Czech and English in a report: A cost-benefit analysis for PID implementation in Czechia.
Phill Jones, main author of the analysis, states: “The analysis found that full integration of the priority PIDs in all key systems in the Czech R&D sector would result in potential annual savings of 7.2k person days of researchers’ and administrative employees’ time wasted on manual rekeying of metadata. This equates to annual savings of 33 mil CZK. When offset by the cost of integrating the PIDs into Czech systems, the net savings would be over 13 mil CZK annually.” In addition to these savings, widespread adoption of PIDs would bring further, harder-to-quantify benefits including greater visibility of Czech research and facilitation of strategic insight and decision-making.
A second phase of the CBA, to be carried out in 2028, will determine what progress has been made, and formulate further plans and strategies for supporting PIDs after the completion of the CARDS project.
Martin Svoboda, the originator of the CARDS project and former director of the NTK says: “Persistent identifiers are an indispensable component of modern information infrastructure for research and development, which NTK is involved in building through national projects such as NCIP VaVaI, CARDS and others. I believe that the MoreBrains analysis will contribute to a better understanding of the value of PIDs for Czech science and research and their potential for the future.”
The full cost-benefit analysis and report is available on the NTK’s repository in English (https://doi.org/10.48813/x4vd-yj13) and Czech (https://doi.org/10.48813/zm93-wy56).
An open webinar to present the cost-benefit analysis and report will be held on April 15th at 11 AM. Register at https://events.eosc.cz/event/359/overview.
About the National Centre for Persistent Identifiers
The National Centre for Persistent Identifiers was created in NTK under the CARDS project. The Centre’s goal is to offer nation-wide methodological and financial support for PID adoption. Also, the Centre has been ensuring direct, fully covered access to PID-related services for Czech research institutions via two existing national consortia, which currently save 3 mil CZK annually for Czech research institutions.
Contact: Hana Heringová, e-mail: hana.heringova@techlib.cz, tel.: 771 231 625
About the MoreBrains Cooperative
MoreBrains Cooperative is a team of four research ecosystem experts, who specialise in and share the values of open research, with a focus on scholarly communications and research information management, policy, and infrastructures. They work collaboratively on a variety of consultancy projects with funders, institutions and universities, publishers, and other organisations in the research community around the world. The MoreBrains team has conducted similar national cost-benefit analyses for PID adoption in Australia, Ireland, and the UK, For more information, please visit https://morebrains.coop
The cost-benefit analysis was funded by the Czech Academic and Research Discovery Services (CARDS), project registration number: CZ.02.01.01/00/22_004/0004342
