Identifier types

Last updated: 19/04/2022

Both studies and data objects can have multiple IDs in the MDR system, and this look up table stores the various types of identifier that can be referenced. The obvious missing type is DOI (Digital Object Identifier). This has a special status for data objects, as it is the default object identifier and is seen as one of the core attributes of an object. It is therefore not included in a list of ‘other identifiers’ and is therefore not in the lists below.

The identifiers fall into three groups: those that are applicable to studies, those that are applicable to data objects, and those that are applicable to both, and these groups are reflected in the three different lists. The distinction is also made in the identifier_types table, which has an additional field (applies_to) indicating to which of these groups any identifier belongs.

Within the MDR system, identifiers are always qualified by the name (and if possible the id) of the organisation that allocated them. In many cases that organisation is fixed for a particular type of id. It may be that the table could usefully be extended to store the allocating organisation ids when appropriate.

Note that identifiers 33 through 38 were added recently to accommodate the ids referenced in PubMed data. The exact relationship between the three ‘publisher IDs’ needs to be clarified.

Study identifiers

id	name	description	use_in_data_entry	source
11	Trial registry ID	Org id should identify the registry.	true	ECRIN
41	Regulatory body ID	Number generated by a national authority when a study applies for authorisation / ethical approval, e.g. IRAS number in the UK, ANSM number in France.	true	ECRIN
12	Ethics review ID	Org id should identify the review body.	true	ECRIN
13	Funder’s ID	May be a grant id, org id should identify the funder.	true	ECRIN
14	Sponsor’s ID	Org id should identify the sponsor.	true	ECRIN
39	NIH CTRP ID	ID generated by the US NCI for supported cancer trials (in the Clinical Trial Reporting Program).	false	NIH
40	DAIDS ID	ID generated for the protocol by the US NIH DAIDs for supported trials (allergy and infectious diseases).	false	NIH
42	NHLBI ID	Accession number, from NHLBI study database.	false	NIH

Data Object identifiers

id	name	description	use_in_data_entry	source
15	Repository accession number	Org id should identify the repository manager.	false	ECRIN
16	PMID	ID assigned by PubMed.	true	PubMed
31	PMCID	Pub med central ID, of the manuscript itself.	true	PubMed
32	NIH manuscript ID	A Manuscript ID, an identifier assigned to an author manuscript submitted to the NIH Manuscript Submission System.	false	PubMed
36	Medline UID	Medline identifier.	false	PubMed
17	bioRxiv ID	Pre-prints, ID assigned by Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory.	false	ECRIN
18	arXiv ID	Pre-prints, ID assigned by Cornell university.	true	DataCite
19	psyXiv ID	Pre-prints, ID assigned by the Centre for Open Science.	true	ECRIN
20	socXiv ID	Pre-prints, ID assigned by the Centre for Open Science.	true	ECRIN
21	Handle ID	ID assigned by a naming authority (handle system is a superset of DOIs).	false	DataCite
22	ISBN	International Standard Book Number, assigned by the publisher.	false	DataCite
23	ISTC	International Standard Text code ID, assigned by the international ISTC agency.	false	DataCite
24	ISAN	International Standard Audiovisual Number, assigned by the ISAN international agency.	false	ECRIN
25	LSID	Life Science Identifier, a URN like specification with various issuing authorities.	false	DataCite
26	Other bibliographic ID	Org id should identify the system manager.	false	ECRIN
33	NRCBL	KIE Reference Library (bioethics library) shelving location.	false	PubMed
34	Publisher article ID	Internal reference of article publisher for journal article.	true	PubMed
37	PMC publisher ID	Publisher Id supplied to PubMed Central.	false	PubMed
38	PM publisher ID	Publisher Id supplied to PubMed.	false	PubMed
35	Serial item and contribution identifier	The Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI), a code used to uniquely identify specific volumes, articles or other identifiable parts of a serial.	false	PubMed

Study or Data Object identifiers

id	name	description	use_in_data_entry	source
27	URL	Resource locator for a web based resource.	true	DataCite
28	PURL	Persistent URL that redirects if necessary.	false	DataCite
29	URN	Uniform Resource Name (a URI using the URN schema) that is location independent.	false	DataCite
30	ARK	Archival Resource Key, a URL that provides additional metadata.	false	DataCite
90	Other	None of the listed identifier types.	true	ECRIN
1	Type not provided	Missing type data in data source.	false	ECRIN
0	Not yet known	Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation.	false	ECRIN