Advancing Research Through DataCite's Global Access Fund: Eko-Konnect Research and Education Initiative

With support from DataCite's Global Access Fund (GAF) in 2024, Eko-Konnect Research and Education Initiative launched a pilot project aimed at enhancing the digital preservation of Nigerian cultural artefacts and expanding the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in the country's research and heritage sectors.

The project focused on digitizing collections from museums under the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), led by the Lagos Museum as the pilot museum of about 50 museums in the country. The project led to the creation of an Open Access digital repository at lagosmuseum.ng, where cultural artefacts (physical objects) are assigned International Generic Sample Numbers – IGSN IDs using the DataCite infrastructure. The project included capacity building for museum staff in digital curation, metadata standards, repository workflows, and licensing practices (Creative Commons). The strategic objective is to promote a national policy for the digitalization of all museum-related items.

This blog post shares the outcomes of the project and how it is laying the foundation for broader adoption of open infrastructure and PIDs within Nigeria's research and cultural heritage sectors.

Implementing DataCite Infrastructure and Assigning IGSNs

Using DSpace repository software, Eko-Konnect utilised DataCite's Metadata Schema, API's and Fabrica, DataCite's DOI management platform, to automatically assign IGSN IDs to digitalized physical artefacts. A standardized metadata description using DataCite's Metadata Schema 4.5 was defined for adoption by Nigerian museums to ensure consistency across records. The metadata standard addressed key areas such as creator roles, licensing, and institutional affiliation among others.

To strengthen institutional attribution and visibility, a Research Organization Registry (ROR) ID was obtained for the Lagos Museum and applied to all metadata records. An application was also submitted for the NCMM. These identifiers ensure Nigerian museums are recognized as authoritative sources of their outputs across global research systems.

This integration of DataCite infrastructure not only enhances digital preservation and accessibility but also encourages wider adoption of open infrastructure within Nigeria's research and education community. The GAF project illustrates how Nigerian cultural institutions can manage physical collections in alignment with global research and archival standards, and offers a blueprint for other Nigerian cultural institutions seeking to align with global research and archival standards.

The use of IGSN IDs not only supports digital preservation of artefacts but also encourages greater adoption of open infrastructure within Nigeria's research and education community. 

The Value of PIDs in Research and Heritage Workflows

PIDs, such as DOIs, IGSN IDs, and ROR IDs, are essential in modern research and archival practices. They provide stable, long-lasting references that link research outputs, like datasets, samples, people, institutions, and funding sources across systems.

In the context of museums, PIDs ensure artefacts are not only preserved digitally but are also made discoverable, citable, and interoperable within the global research infrastructure. With robust, standardized metadata, PIDs support the FAIR principles by ensuring artefacts are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

For Nigeria's research and heritage institutions, this fosters greater transparency, reproducibility, and attribution—key components of a strong and collaborative research environment.

Capacity Building, Outreach, and Engagement

To build sustainable expertise, Eko-Konnect hosted a series of capacity-building workshops during the one-year project period for museum staff covering areas that included:

• Use and administration of Open Access (DSpace) repositories
• Metadata curation and alignment with the DataCite Metadata Schema 
• Digital uploading and artefact categorization
• Open licensing and use of Creative Commons licences
• User roles and repository workflows
• Digitization of museum objects

Through the Eko-Konnect Campus Technology Internship Programme (CTIP), a cohort of interns was recruited and mentored throughout the project lifecycle to provide hands-on technical support to museum staff. These interns, equipped with practical training and guided mentorship, played a critical role in reinforcing the project's objectives.

In January 2025, the GAF project was showcased at Eko-Konnect's User Conference, and the project and its outcomes were presented to participants from research institutions, universities, and public sector organizations. The event positioned the museum repository as a successful use case for broader PID and Open Access adoption in Nigeria.

Ongoing community engagement includes social media outreach, stakeholder consultations, and continuous advocacy among government ministries and higher education institutions.

Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Future Directions

While the project has achieved key milestones, there are ongoing challenges:

• Most artefacts were stored under poor atmospheric conditions, which required significant manual effort to digitize and verify.
• Metadata curation revealed inconsistencies in the recorded historical information of artefacts, requiring correction of manual records before digitization and uploading to repositories.
• Hesitancy to fully transition to digital systems persists among some museum staff, which slows the overall process.

Despite the challenges, the project has succeeded in demonstrating the importance of PIDs for preserving Nigeria's cultural heritage and has laid the groundwork for future expansion. There is also a growing interest in the DataCite DOI Consortium in Nigeria, led by Eko-Konnect, to support national-level adoption of DataCite DOIs and IGSN IDs and reduce entry barriers for institutions. 

Sustaining Momentum Beyond the GAF

Eko-Konnect continues to advocate for the adoption of persistent identifiers, Open Science, and Open Access infrastructure across the country's research and cultural sectors. The Lagos Museum repository will remain active and serve as a model for other institutions. Discussions are ongoing with the NCMM for additional museums to join a shared, federated repository platform, supported by Eko-Konnect's infrastructure and expertise.

What began as a small pilot now signals a broader shift in Nigeria's approach to digital heritage and research. With support from DataCite and the Global Access Fund, Eko-Konnect's work demonstrates that PIDs are not just technical tools—they are essential for preserving cultural memory, enhancing scholarly visibility, and connecting Nigeria to the global research community.