The Metadata Behind the Manuscripts: Ed Pentz on the Future of Scholarly Infrastructure

Insights Xchange: Conversations Shaping Academic Research

Every day, over 8,000 scholarly articles are published—but how do they become discoverable, citable, and connected across journals, databases, and platforms?

The answer lies in the invisible infrastructure of scholarly publishing: metadata, persistent identifiers, and interoperability.

In this episode of Insights Xchange, we’re joined by Ed Pentz, Executive Director of Crossref, the organization behind the DOIs and metadata standards that make modern academic publishing possible. Ed shares what it means for Crossref to be the “plumbing” of scholarly communication, why metadata is the unsung hero of research visibility, and how open infrastructure is shaping a more inclusive and discoverable global knowledge ecosystem. We also explore how AI and machine learning are accelerating the demands on metadata, what true interoperability means for equity in global research, and what Ed would redesign if he had the chance to build the scholarly communication ecosystem from scratch.

If you've ever cited a paper or searched for one online, you're already benefiting from the quiet systems Ed and his team have built. Tune in for a fascinating look at the trust, tech, and transformation powering the research world.

Social media links

Nikesh Gosalia:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikeshgosalia/

https://x.com/NikeshGo

Ed Pentz

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-pentz-3816223/?originalSubdomain=uk

Show notes:

Thank you for listening! Here are links to some of the things that Ed Pentz and Nikesh discussed in the podcast. We would love to hear from you, so feel free to drop a line at [email protected]

Crossref | https://www.crossref.org/
Wired | https://www.wired.com/
Academic Press | https://booksite.elsevier.com/brochures/academicpress/
Harcourt Brace | https://www.hmhco.com/
Oxford Food Hub | https://oxfordfoodhub.org/
ORCID | https://orcid.org/
ROR (Research Organization Registry) | https://ror.org/
PubMed | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
SSP (Society for Scholarly Publishing) | https://www.sspnet.org/
UKSG (UK Serials Group) | https://www.uksg.org/
ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) | https://www.alpsp.org/
STM (International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers) | https://stm-assoc.org/
NISO (National Information Standards Organization) | https://www.niso.org/
Open Access | https://www.openaccess.nl/en/what-is-open-access
Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI) | htt

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