Annotating research resources with RRID’sResource Identification Initiative

Resource Identification Initiative: New type of resource citation

• Have authors supply appropriate identifiers for key resources used within a study such that they are:– Machine processible (i.e., unique

identifier that resolves to a single resource)

– Outside of the paywall– Uniform across journals and publishers

• Pilot project– Antibodies– Software/databases– Genetically modified animals

https://www.force11.org/group/resource-identification-initiative

Why RRID’s?• Researchers do not provide enough

information to conclusively identify which resource was used to produce a result in a paper (Vasilevsky et al., 2013)

• Our current system of citing resources makes it difficult to ask a very basic question: “What other studies used this resource”?

With RRID’s, that question is easy

Bandrowski A, Brush M, Grethe JS et al. 2015 [v1; ref status: awaiting peer review, http://f1000r.es/5fj] F1000Research 2015, 4:134 (doi: 10.12688/f1000research.6555.1)

But...what about the retrospective literature?

Can we assign RRID’s to resources from the descriptions the authors provide?

Annotation Task• Find antibodies, genetically modified animals and software

tools/databases in the materials and methods of a scientific article• Look up the RRID in the Resource Identification Portal• Highlight the first mention of the resource and provide the RRID• Tag the annotation with RRID• View Example

How to find an RRID

Bandrowski A, Brush M, Grethe JS et al. 2015 [v1; ref status: awaiting peer review, http://f1000r.es/5fj] F1000Research 2015, 4:134 (doi: 10.12688/f1000research.6555.1)

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Click on Cite This andcopy citation info

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Tips• Only annotate actual usage of a resource, not just a

mention in the introduction or discussion• Only annotate with an RRID if you can be sure it is the

correct resource, e.g., it matches a vendor and catalog number

– But you can note where there isn’t enough information available