The quality and interoperability of metadata are essential prerequisites for linking research results, researchers, organizations, and infrastructures across institutional and disciplinary boundaries. The PID Network Germany project addresses this need by bringing together stakeholders from the fields of science and cultural heritage to promote the adoption, standardization, and practical use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in Germany.
A key focus of the project is the development and testing of practical recommendations for the use of PIDs and the improvement of metadata quality, coordinated and carried out by DataCite. Through pilot projects with LMU Munich and the Technical University of Dortmund, the project is investigating how collaboratively developed guidelines for the provision of DataCite DOI metadata can be translated into concrete improvements to local repositories, metadata processes, and DOI workflows. The experience gained makes an important contribution to promoting interoperable, networked, and reusable metadata, as well as to the sustainable establishment of PID infrastructures in Germany.
At Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University Library (UB) and the IT-Gruppe Geisteswissenschaften (ITG) have been working together for several years on improving the quality, consistency, and reuse of DataCite metadata. This collaboration resulted in an updated version of a DataCite Metadata Generator for schema version 4.3 as well as a DataCite Best Practice Guide, both originally developed within the project eHumanities interdisziplinär (funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts between 2018–2023). The goal of this work was to establish and extend a FAIR-oriented metadata model for research data in the Digital Humanities in order to improve discoverability, interoperability, and reuse across repositories and library systems. Because research data in the Digital Humanities often require both formal and detailed subject-specific descriptions, the project combined the widely used DataCite Metadata Schema with recommendations for more structured and standardized metadata creation.
Building on user feedback and practical experience gained from institutional workflows following the initial release, the DataCite Metadata Generator was completely reimplemented, modernized to align with current technical standards, and enhanced to meet evolving functional requirements. As part of the project Aufbau HITS FDM within the Digitalverbund Bayern, the project partners ITG and UB once again collaborated closely throughout the development process. The result is a modern web-based application, that anyone can use to create, validate, reuse, and enrich DataCite metadata in both XML and JSON formats.
This work aligns closely with the Praxisorientierte Leitlinien für Lieferanten von DataCite DOI-Metadaten (“Practical guidelines for providers of DataCite DOI metadata”), where LMU Munich participated as a pilot in the implementation phase with funding through the PID Network Germany. Both the DataCite Metadata Generator and the accompanying DataCite Best Practice Guide aim to make high-quality metadata creation more practical, interoperable, and sustainable for repositories, research institutions, and data providers.
An interview with LMU presents the work of the pilot project at LMU Munich and highlights how the insights gained there contribute to achieving the goals of PID Network Germany.
Reference to the interview: Meier, L., Spenger, M., & Vierkant, P. (2026). Building Better DOI Metadata: Lessons from the PID Network Germany Pilot at LMU Munich. DataCite. https://doi.org/10.5438/ACDM-0120
