What is RAiD?

‘RAiD’ is an acronym for 'Research Activity Identifier'.  

It is a unique, persistent identifier (PID) developed by the ARDC to identify research projects and activities for access by research communities worldwide.  

RAiD creates a single place for storing and retrieving project information using a RAiD name (identifier) and its associated metadata record.  

Each RAiD metadata record stores project or activity information for long-term discovery, resolution, access, sharing, reporting and other uses by the global research community.

How to resolve a RAiD metadata record

A RAiD metadata record can be accessed by entering a RAiD name’s URL into a web browser. RAiDs can also be resolved at raid.org.

RAiDs resolve to a standardised landing page that displays the RAiD’s metadata record. 

Some RAiDs are temporarily embargoes and may not be immediately available. Permanently sensitive or confidential information should not be stored in RAiD.

The RAiD metadata record

RAiD provides a container that brings together other PIDs to record the people, organisations, inputs and outputs associated with the project. Supported PIDs include DOI, ORCID, ROR, IGSN, and others. In addition, RAiD stores key project information not found anywhere else, such as a projects title, start date, description, subject, and other project metdata.

Why RAiD was developed

Before RAiD, it was difficult to record or access information about a research project or activity.

With RAiD, project administrative tasks no longer need to be laborious, time-consuming or costly. RAiD reduces manual entry of data and ensures consistency when preparing:

  • Research applications

  • Submissions

  • Funding requests

  • Subproject allocations

  • Project collaborations

  • Research reports.

How RAiD works

RAiD is a federated system. RAiDs are minted, and project metadata recorded, at separate RAiD Registration Agencies (RAs). These RAs then make this information available via a unified global portal at raid.org, which also provides a single web interface and API for search and resolution).

RAiD identifiers utilise DataCite DOIs

The ARDC and DataCite have entered an agreement to use DataCite DOIs as RAiD identifiers. Read more about this partnership from DataCite and the ARDC.