PCG Academia and DataCite are pleased to announce that PCG Academia is now a DataCite Registered Service Provider, strengthening DataCite infrastructure among DSpace communities and users.
The DataCite Registered Service Providers (RSP) Program strengthens the global research ecosystem by enabling trusted partners to deliver DataCite services locally and at scale. DataCite RSPs help institutions adopt persistent identifiers (PIDs) by enabling DOI registration, improving research metadata quality, and strengthening connectivity. This localized support expands access and builds capacity across regions, advancing DataCite’s vision of a global community where all research outputs and resources are openly available, connected, and discoverable.
PCG Academia, based in Poland, provides repository services that support universities in managing, preserving, and showcasing their research outputs in a structured and sustainable way. Its platform enables institutions to collect and organize a wide range of scholarly materials, improving access and long-term visibility of academic content. By working with universities, PCG Academia helps strengthen institutional research infrastructure, enhance discoverability of outputs, and support better research management and dissemination practices across higher education institutions.
As a DataCite Registered Service Provider, PCG Academia’s software integrates with the DataCite REST API, allowing DataCite Members and Consortium Organizations to register DOIs using their DataCite credentials. In order to gain this recognition, PCG Academia had to meet requirements and follow best practices meant to ensure that integrations register DataCite DOIs accurately with rich metadata.
Integrating PCG Academia DSpace Repository Solutions with DataCite Infrastructure
PCG Academia’s DataCite integration is based on DSpace’s native DOI provider functionality, which PCG Academia configures and operates for each client repository as part of its platform deployment and management services. This connects the repository directly to the DataCite REST API, allowing institutions to register and manage DOIs for datasets, publications, and other research outputs from within their DSpace repository, using their own DataCite credentials.
The integration maps DSpace metadata to DataCite’s Metadata Schema, ensuring DOIs are registered with accurate, complete, and standards-compliant metadata. PCG Academia configured and rolled out this integration, among others, for the University of Zurich’s ZORA repository as part of its repository platform migration to DSpace.
Voices from the Community
Commenting on this milestone, Mateusz Adamiak, General Manager at PCG Academia, said,
“DataCite plays a vital role in the global Open Science infrastructure, connecting research outputs across institutions and borders through reliable, persistent identifiers. For PCG Academia, it is essential that the DSpace repositories we deploy stay fully aligned with this global Open Science movement, and becoming a DataCite Registered Service Provider is a key part of that commitment.”
Martin Brändle, Central IT Services at the University of Zurich,
shared his experience working with the DataCite infrastructure:
“When migrating ZORA to DSpace, we wanted to ensure that DOI registration would be handled natively within the new system. Setting up a direct integration with DataCite made this possible, and the results speak for themselves: metadata quality has improved significantly since we started registering directly through DSpace.”
Maria Gould, Director of Strategic Programs and Partnerships at DataCite, commented:
“We are thrilled to welcome PCG Academia to the DataCite Registered Service Providers Program and offer DSpace users more opportunities to integrate with DataCite infrastructure. DataCite RSPs play a key role in enabling DOI registrations and good metadata practices, and we look forward to partnering with PCG Academia to support this important work.”
The DataCite Membership Experience: Tracking Impact and Improving Metadata Quality
Recently, Mohamad Mostafa, Community Specialist at DataCite, and Małgorzata Paszkowska, International Outreach Manager at PCG Academia, presented at DSpace Lab Days on how DataCite DOIs support modern research infrastructure and open science workflows. The session featured an introduction to DataCite services for institutional repositories, followed by a live demonstration of the DSpace integration, including DOI registration and metadata export.
The session also highlighted the DataCite membership experience, emphasizing that being a DataCite member goes beyond DOI registration. DataCite members gain access to services and platforms such as DataCite Commons to track usage, citations, and research connections, helping them understand research outputs within a broader context. Also, members can use their DataCite Metadata Dashboard to assess metadata quality, identify improvement opportunities, and enhance the discoverability and impact of their research outputs.
DataCite welcomes PCG Academia as a DataCite Registered Service Provider and looks forward to seeing this implementation adopted and used by the DataCite community. If you have questions about working with a DataCite Registered Service Provider, joining the program, or exploring the best membership pathway for your organization to become part of the DataCite community, please contact the DataCite team.
Mohamad Mostafa
Kelly Stathis
