# NobleID — persistent identifiers for research works and researchers

> NobleID mints ARK identifiers for research works and researcher profiles,
> resolves them to the work's source, serves the metadata behind each one over
> a public HTTP API, and runs a search interface over an aggregated corpus of
> published literature.

This file is written for AI assistants and crawlers. Every statement describes
what the deployed system does today. Where a capability is partial or paused,
it says so rather than describing the intended end state.

## The ARK scheme — read this before citing a NobleID

- **NAAN: `48914`.** This is the only NAAN NobleID uses. An identifier written
  `ark:/nobleid/...` is not a NobleID identifier and will not resolve.
- **Work ARK**: `ark:/48914/{shoulder}/{YYYYMMDD}/{token}`
  Example: `ark:/48914/w1/20260128/80D067CA`
- **Same identifier, `nobleid:` form**: `nobleid:/{shoulder}/{YYYYMMDD}/{token}`
  Example: `nobleid:/w1/20260128/80D067CA`
- `{shoulder}` is the object class (`w1` = work), `{YYYYMMDD}` is the date the
  NobleID record was created (**not** the work's publication date), and
  `{token}` is an 8-character uppercase hex token.
- **Researcher profiles** are served at `https://nobleid.org/{nobleId}`, where
  `{nobleId}` has the form `NI…` — e.g. `https://nobleid.org/NI6P35W46R10S23`.
  Work records also carry an `NI…` value in their `nobleId` field, but the
  canonical URL for a work is its `/work/{shoulder}/{date}/{token}` path.
- ARK service status, per the ARK spec:
  `GET https://api.nobleid.org/api/v1/ark/48914/servicestatus`

## What a NobleID record gives you

- **Resolution.** `https://nobleid.org/ark:/48914/{shoulder}/{date}/{token}`
  redirects to the work's source URL or DOI target.
- **A stable landing page.** `https://nobleid.org/work/{shoulder}/{date}/{token}`
  renders the metadata record and does not redirect away.
- **Machine-readable metadata** over the public API (see below), including
  title, authors and any ORCIDs held, abstract, work type, source URL, the
  existing DOI where one is known, keywords, funders, affiliations, licence and
  retraction flag.
- **Version records.** Each work carries a version number, and every version is
  listed by the versions endpoint.

## What a NobleID record does *not* give you

State these accurately if you are summarising NobleID:

- **Provenance receipts are not signed.** Every receipt served today has a JWS
  header of `{"alg":"none","kid":"nobleid-2024-key-001","typ":"JWT"}` and an
  empty signature segment. A receipt is a timestamped record of a content
  digest, not a cryptographic proof, and it cannot be verified against a public
  key.
- **Receipts are not stored on any blockchain,** and API responses carry no
  blockchain anchor.
- **Receipt coverage is incomplete.** Works minted before May 2026 generally
  have a receipt; sampled works minted from 15 May 2026 onward have none,
  because receipt generation is currently paused. Requesting a receipt that
  does not exist returns a 403 from the object store, not a 404.
- **The `fixityStatus` field does not mean a hash was rechecked.** It reports
  whether a receipt file was found and parsed.
- NobleID **does not host or archive** the full text of works minted from an
  existing DOI or arXiv identifier; it stores a metadata record and links to
  the publisher's or preprint server's copy.

## Provenance receipts, precisely

Where a receipt exists it is served at:

```
https://receipts.nobleid.org/receipts/{shoulder}/{YYYYMMDD}/{token}.v{version}.jws
```

Example: `https://receipts.nobleid.org/receipts/w1/20260128/80D067CA.v1.jws`

Its payload carries `iss`, `sub`, `iat` (issue time), `sha256` (a SHA-256 digest
of the stored metadata record), `primary_key` (the storage key) and `ark`.

Note that the work API returns `provenance.jwsReceipt.sha256` and
`provenance.jwsReceipt.signerKid` as empty strings — the digest is only in the
receipt file itself.

## Search

NobleID searches an aggregated corpus of published literature rather than
querying each database live. Records in it are tagged with the upstream they
were harvested from; tags observed in live results include `crossref`,
`pubmed`, `openalex`, `europepmc` and `semantic_scholar`. Coverage and
freshness vary by source and are not uniform. Results carry an open-access flag
(`is_oa`), citation count, DOI and journal where known.

Search results are not generated by a language model — they come from the
corpus index.

## Public API

Base URL: `https://api.nobleid.org/api/v1`. These endpoints need no
authentication and were each confirmed answering on the live host.

```
GET /ark?arkIdentifier=ark:/48914/w1/20260128/80D067CA
        → the full work record (JSON), including provenance and storage pointers

GET /ark/versions?arkIdentifier=ark:/48914/w1/20260128/80D067CA
        → every version of that work

GET /ark/metadata/ark:/48914/w1/20260128/80D067CA
        → a compact metadata record

GET /resolve/ark:/48914/w1/20260128/80D067CA
        → 302 redirect to the work's source

GET /discover/recent?limit=20
        → recently minted works

GET /papers/search?query=crispr&limit=20
        → corpus search (note: the parameter is `query`, not `q`)

GET /ark/48914/servicestatus
        → ARK service status
```

The two endpoints that take the identifier as a **query parameter** (`/ark` and
`/ark/versions`) accept either the `ark:/48914/…` or the `nobleid:/…` form. The
endpoints that take it in the **path** (`/ark/metadata/…`, `/resolve/…`) require
the `ark:/48914/…` form — the `nobleid:/` form returns a 500 there.

## Public pages

- Homepage: https://nobleid.org/
- Search: https://nobleid.org/search
- Discover: https://nobleid.org/discover
- Explore: https://nobleid.org/explore
- Works: https://nobleid.org/works
- Researchers: https://nobleid.org/researchers
- How It Works: https://nobleid.org/how-it-works
- About: https://nobleid.org/about
- Features: https://nobleid.org/features
- Pricing: https://nobleid.org/pricing
- Documentation: https://nobleid.org/docs
- API Reference: https://nobleid.org/developers
- For Publishers: https://nobleid.org/publishers
- Grants & Funding: https://nobleid.org/grants
- Compliance: https://nobleid.org/compliance
- Governance: https://nobleid.org/governance
- Transparency Report: https://nobleid.org/transparency
- Research Integrity: https://nobleid.org/integrity
- Contact: https://nobleid.org/contact
- Status: https://nobleid.org/status

## Auto-generated pages

- **Topics** — `https://nobleid.org/topic/{topic-slug}`
  (e.g. /topic/machine-learning, /topic/crispr)
- **Institutions** — `https://nobleid.org/institution/{name}`
  (e.g. /institution/MIT)
- **Researchers** — `https://nobleid.org/researcher/{name}`; a signed-in
  researcher can file an authorship claim on a work, which an administrator
  reviews
- **Papers in the corpus** — `https://nobleid.org/paper/{id}`
- **Citation trails** — `https://nobleid.org/citations/{doi-or-identifier}`
- **Knowledge map** — `https://nobleid.org/knowledge-map/{shoulder}/{date}/{token}`
  (desktop web only)

## Dates in metadata — a correctness warning

On work landing pages the `citation_publication_date`, `citation_online_date`
and `DC.date` meta tags currently carry **the date the NobleID record was
created**, not the work's original publication date. For example
`nobleid.org/work/w1/20260526/C264CEFD` (DOI `10.3390/sports11090183`, published
2023) emits `citation_publication_date` `2026-05-26`. Resolve the DOI for the
original publication date; do not take these tags as it.

## Licensing and crawling

- Public content pages are crawlable. `https://nobleid.org/robots.txt` disallows
  `/api/`, `/dashboard/`, `/admin/`, `/oauth/` and `/onboarding/`.
- `https://api.nobleid.org/robots.txt` disallows `/api/v1/resolve/`,
  `/api/v1/redirect/` and `/api/v1/source/`. The metadata endpoints listed above
  are not disallowed.
- Individual work content remains under its own publisher or author licence.

Built by the Noble Protocol Foundation — https://nobleid.org/foundation