Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a leader in advancing copyright and powering innovation, has entered into a strategic collaboration with the Training Centre in Communication (TCC – Africa) to enhance the identification and affiliation tracking of African institutions contributing to scholarly research. The initiative aims to improve the visibility and contextual accuracy of research outputs emerging from the continent, particularly those linked to indigenous knowledge systems and innovation.
This partnership will integrate CCC’s persistent identifier (PID)-based Ringgold solution with the Africa PID Alliance’s infrastructure. Ringgold maintains a database of over 750,000 records of organizations engaged in research globally and is used by more than 80 publishers, funders, and service providers. TCC Africa, through its Digital Object Container Identifier (DOCID™), will utilize a subset of Ringgold’s organizational data, while CCC will incorporate updates on African institutions into the Ringgold database, ensuring reciprocal data enhancement.
The Africa PID Alliance, part of TCC Africa’s broader Open Infrastructure program, focuses on safeguarding the future of African scholarship and cultural heritage by supporting the dissemination and commercialization of locally produced research. Through the integration of standardized organizational identifiers, the collaboration seeks to facilitate accurate attribution, improve discoverability, and promote equitable participation in global research networks.
CCC stated that the partnership reflects its continued support for cross-stakeholder efforts within scholarly communications. The organization emphasized its commitment to promoting the adoption of PIDs and enhancing system interoperability, allowing users such as researchers, librarians, and academic institutions greater flexibility in selecting identifiers aligned with their operational and reporting needs.
The Africa PID Alliance underscored that the inclusion of Ringgold data into the DOCID™ framework will reinforce the infrastructure’s ability to represent African innovation accurately, ensuring research outputs are grounded within appropriate institutional and cultural contexts. The integration is positioned as a step toward making African contributions more visible within international knowledge systems.
CCC, founded in 1978, supports content licensing and reuse across academia, business, and education. The organization offers a range of voluntary licensing solutions, including the Annual Copyright License (ACL) series and the Multinational Copyright License, and operates platforms that facilitate access to full-text content and permissions. It also provides educational resources on issues related to copyright, artificial intelligence, and licensing through its digital platform, AI, Copyright & Licensing.
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