Data corresponding to a specific publication may be housed in various data centres and recorded on various types of media. Storage locations are subject to change as well. This makes it increasingly difficult to guarantee the findability of, and access to, the data. At the same time, access is becoming ever more vital due to the reproducibility requirements of research and the reuse of scientific information.

Persistent identifiers (PIDs) ensure the findability of your data, now and always. PIDs are comparable to the ISBN numbers assigned to books. Even if the location or underlying infrastructure changes, the reference path remains intact. SURF offers a PID provisioning service in cooperation with the Persistent Identifiers for eResearch (ePIC) formerly known as European Persistent Identifier Consortium (EPIC), called the EPIC PID service.