standardsid

Standardsid is a term used to describe a proposed persistent identifier system for standards documents and their versions. The concept envisions a centralized or federated scheme that assigns a stable, machine-tractable ID to each standard record and to its successive revisions, amendments, and supersession events. The goal is to improve citation, discovery, and interoperability across standards bodies, libraries, suppliers, and researchers.

The core idea behind Standardsid is to decouple the identity of a standard from its issuing body or national adoption, enabling consistent referencing even as documents evolve. An identifier would typically be accompanied by metadata such as the issuing organization, standard number, title, version or revision, status (active, draft, superseded), publication and effective dates, and links to authoritative full texts. The system would support mappings between related items, including superseding standards, amendments, and withdrawn documents, facilitating traceability through the lifecycle of a standard.

Rationale for Standardsid arises from the fragmentation of standard numbering and citation practices across multiple organizations and formats. Without a unified identifier, researchers and procurement systems may struggle to resolve the correct document or to track changes over time, leading to inconsistency in references and compliance checks. A well-designed ID scheme could improve bibliographic workflows, interoperability in digital repositories, and the accuracy of metadata in catalogs and procurement catalogs.

Design considerations for Standardsid include ensuring global uniqueness, resolvability through a stable URI or DOI-like syntax, and a governance model that can accommodate multiple standards bodies. Implementations would need clear rules for minting IDs, updating metadata, handling deprecations, and linking to authoritative sources.

See also: standard identifier, persistent identifier, standards registry, metadata for standards.