PLOS Adopts CCC Ringgold Identify Database as its PID Solution

Innovative Pure Open Access Publisher Selects Leading Provider of Organization Identifiers in Scholarly Communications

CCC, a leader in advancing copyright, accelerating knowledge, and powering innovation, today announced The Public Library of Science (PLOS) has adopted the industry-leading Ringgold Identify Database as its Persistent Identifier (PID) solution to streamline organizational data, helping power its Open Access (OA) publishing process with reliability and inclusivity.

A critical aspect leading to the decision was the precision with which PLOS could match accepted papers to institutional funding under its Community Action Publishing (CAP) program. The CAP model, which is also supported by CCC RightsLink for Scientific Communications (RLSC), eliminates author Article Publishing Charges (APCs) and makes PLOS journals truly Open to Read and Open to Publish.

“Leveraging the Ringgold Identify Database in our publishing workflows helps PLOS better support our authors and reduces operational burdens,” said Randy Townsend, Director, Publishing Operations, PLOS. “Using Ringgold and RLSC together provides us with industry-tested, data-driven technology that leverages granular PIDs to support the nuances of organizational relationships in our OA agreements.”

“As the scholarly communications ecosystem continues to evolve, data quality becomes increasingly important to innovative publishers like PLOS,” said Emily Sheahan, Vice President & Managing Director, CCC. “Using a curated, granular dataset to identify organizational relationships—and therefore accurately identify funding entitlements—must be a strategic priority for publishers committed to sustainable, equitable, and transparent open access publishing models.”

With over 600,000 Ringgold PIDs and metadata records, Ringgold Identify Database provides a curated view of organization data to help stakeholders improve data quality, drive strategic decision-making, and support data interoperability across the scholarly communications ecosystem. Used by intermediaries, funders, and a growing list of leading publishers, Ringgold Identify Database is the only solution to offer structured organizational hierarchies and consortia connections to help stakeholders quickly understand complex relationships. The database also includes rich metadata and additional identifiers, including the ISNI ID, an ISO Standard open ID to support wider interoperability.

With its acquisition of Ringgold, CCC is now a leading provider of PIDs for organizations that participate in the scholarly communications ecosystem, including publishers, institutions, funders, government, corporations, healthcare, non-profits, and more. For more than ten years, CCC has relied on Ringgold identifiers to disambiguate author affiliations related to APCs managed through RLSC.

CCC is a long-time supporter of the creation, development, and proliferation of identifiers, including supporting initiatives such as ORCID and ISNI. The acquisition of Ringgold reflects CCC’s ongoing commitment to promoting data interoperability, addressing market friction, and collaborating with stakeholders to create solutions together.

ABOUT CCC A pioneer in voluntary collective licensing, CCC (Copyright Clearance Center) helps organizations integrate, access, and share information through licensing, content, software, and professional services. With expertise in copyright, information management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, CCC and its subsidiary RightsDirect collaborate with stakeholders to design and deliver innovative information solutions that power decision-making by harnessing information from a wide variety of data sources and content assets.

ABOUT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE PLOS is a nonprofit, open access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. Since our founding in 2001, PLOS journals have helped break boundaries in research communication to provide more opportunities, choice, and context for researchers and readers. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.