International Geo Sample Number

International Geo Sample Number
Name	International Geo Sample Number
Abbreviation	IGSN
Type	persistent identifier
Introduced	2010s
Governing body	IGSN e.V.; International Ocean Discovery Program; Australian National Data Service

International Geo Sample Number

The International Geo Sample Number is a persistent identifier system for physical samples used in the geosciences. It provides a globally unique, resolvable identifier to link samples to publications, databases, museums, and field campaigns, enabling interoperability across initiatives such as International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, EarthCube, Geological Survey of Canada, and National Science Foundation projects. The IGSN connects repositories, laboratories, and research infrastructures including PANGAEA (data publisher), GEOROC, EarthChem, and USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program.

Overview

IGSN was developed to address provenance and citation challenges identified by stakeholders like International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean, International Union of Geological Sciences, Australian Research Council, and major research facilities including Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and British Geological Survey. The identifier supports traceability across collections such as those curated by Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, and corporate archives like Chevron and ExxonMobil sample repositories. Adoption has been promoted via workshops convened by entities such as CSIRO and conferences like American Geophysical Union and European Geosciences Union.

Structure and Format

An IGSN is composed of a prefix and a suffix forming a globally unique string compatible with systems like Handle System, Digital Object Identifier, and International Standard Book Number. The syntax allows integration with catalogues maintained by institutions such as Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum, Geological Survey of Japan, and university collections at Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and ETH Zurich. The design facilitates resolution to metadata records hosted in repositories comparable to Dataverse, Zenodo, and Figshare and links to related records in CrossRef, DataCite, and ORCID-enabled profiles of researchers.

Assignment and Registration

Assignments are issued by allocating organizations (allocation agencies) accredited under governance frameworks like those overseen by IGSN e.V. and national partners including Geoscience Australia and Bureau of Economic Geology. Registration workflows mirror practices used by Library of Congress and National Archives and Records Administration for cataloguing, requiring metadata fields analogous to specimen catalogues at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and project registries of International Ocean Discovery Program. Agencies coordinate with laboratory information management systems implemented at facilities such as Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Use Cases and Applications

IGSN enables citation of drill cores from programs like International Ocean Discovery Program and Scientific Continental Drilling Program, cryospheric samples from National Snow and Ice Data Center, and planetary samples curated at Lunar and Planetary Institute and NASA Johnson Space Center. It supports linking analytical datasets in repositories such as PetDB and GEOROC, integration with geospatial platforms like ArcGIS and QGIS, and enhances reproducibility in studies published in journals including Nature Geoscience, Geology (journal), and Journal of Geophysical Research. Collections management at institutions such as Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin uses IGSN to coordinate loans, provenance records, and legal compliance with frameworks like Nagoya Protocol.

Governance and Standards

Governance is provided by a community-based association and coordination with standards organizations including International Organization for Standardization, Research Data Alliance, and Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. The policy framework aligns with persistent identifier best practices advocated by DataCite, CrossRef, and funding agencies such as European Commission Horizon programs and the National Institutes of Health data policies. Governance involves advisory input from stakeholders at European Research Council, Australian Research Data Commons, and national geological surveys.

Implementation and Tools

Tools and registries supporting IGSN include web-based registration portals, APIs compatible with RESTful architectures, and integration plugins for institutional databases like KE EMu, Specify, and Arctos. Software used in sample curation and metadata exchange interacts with services from ORCID, DataCite Metadata Store, and Handle System registries, while community tools developed in environments such as GitHub and Zenodo enable automation for laboratory workflows at research centers like GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Stanford University. Training materials have been delivered via meetings at International Federation of Data Organizations (IFDO) and workshops hosted by Geoinformatics programs.

Limitations and Criticism

Critiques parallel those directed at persistent identifier schemes used by Digital Object Identifier and Handle System: concerns include metadata quality, long-term funding models, and heterogeneity of adoption across institutions such as smaller university collections and industry archives like BHP. Interoperability challenges remain when mapping to legacy catalogues at repositories such as British Antarctic Survey and harmonizing with legal constraints from frameworks like Convention on Biological Diversity. Ongoing debates involve balancing central governance, local autonomy of repositories, and technical approaches advocated by communities including Research Data Alliance and Open Geospatial Consortium.

Category:Geoscience