System Architecture

The system implements a centralized approach to managing multiple persistent identifier types including DOIs, DOCiD™s, Handles, and other PIDs. This ensures consistency across all identifier operations and provides a unified interface for external systems.

Key Features:

• Unified identifier assignment and management
• Support for multiple identifier schemes simultaneously
• Automatic identifier validation and format checking
• Cross-reference resolution between different identifier types

Comments system implements a sophisticated tree structure allowing for threaded discussions with parent-child relationships, status management, and moderation capabilities.

Implementation Details:

• Self-referential database relationships
• Recursive comment retrieval algorithms
• Status-based visibility management
• Hierarchical permission inheritance

External service connectors are abstracted into dedicated service classes, providing consistent interfaces for interacting with Crossref, CSTR, CORDRA, ROR, ORCID, and Local Contexts APIs.

Service Patterns:

• Standardized authentication token management
• Consistent error handling and retry logic
• Unified data transformation interfaces
• Configurable service endpoints and credentials

Central entity managing publication metadata with DOCiD™/DOI assignment and cascading relationships to files, creators, organizations, funders, and projects.

class Publications(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = 'publications'

    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
    user_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey('user_accounts.user_id'), nullable=False, index=True)
    document_docid = Column(String(255), nullable=False)
    document_title = Column(String(255), nullable=False)
    document_description = Column(Text)
    resource_type_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey('resource_types.id'), nullable=False)
    doi = Column(String(50), nullable=False)
    published = Column(DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)

    # Relationships
    user_account = relationship('UserAccount', back_populates='publications')
    publication_creators = relationship('PublicationCreators', cascade="all, delete-orphan")
    publication_organizations = relationship('PublicationOrganization', cascade="all, delete-orphan")
    publication_funders = relationship('PublicationFunders', cascade="all, delete-orphan")

Comprehensive user management with social authentication support and rich profile information including ORCID and ROR ID integration.

class UserAccount(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = "user_accounts"

    user_id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
    user_name = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=False)
    full_name = db.Column(db.String(100), nullable=False)
    email = db.Column(db.String(100), unique=True, nullable=False)
    orcid_id = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=True)
    ror_id = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=True)
    affiliation = db.Column(db.String(100), nullable=True)
    role = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=True)
    country = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=True)
    
    # Social media profile links
    linkedin_profile_link = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=True)
    github_profile_link = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=True)

    # Relationships
    publications = relationship('Publications', back_populates='user_account')

Author/creator management with role assignment and multiple identifier scheme support.

class PublicationCreators(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = 'publication_creators'

    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
    publication_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey('publications.id'), nullable=False, index=True)
    family_name = Column(String(255), nullable=False)
    given_name = Column(String(255))
    identifier = Column(String(500))  # Full resolvable URL (e.g., https://orcid.org/...)
    identifier_type = Column(String(50))  # Type (e.g., 'orcid', 'isni', 'viaf')
    role_id = Column(String(255), nullable=False)

    # Relationships
    publication = relationship('Publications', back_populates='publication_creators')

Supported Creator Identifiers:

• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000
• ISNI: https://isni.org/isni/0000000000000000
• VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/123456789
• ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-1234-2012
• Scopus ID: Scopus author identifier URLs

Hierarchical comment structure with parent-child relationships, status management, and engagement tracking.

class PublicationComments(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = 'publication_comments'
    
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
    publication_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('publications.id'), nullable=False)
    user_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('user_accounts.user_id'), nullable=False)
    parent_comment_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('publication_comments.id'), nullable=True)
    comment_text = db.Column(db.Text, nullable=False)
    comment_type = db.Column(db.String(50), default='general')
    status = db.Column(db.String(20), default='active')
    likes_count = db.Column(db.Integer, default=0)
    created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)
    
    # Self-referential relationship for hierarchical comments
    parent_comment = db.relationship('PublicationComments', remote_side=[id], backref='replies')

Comment Features:

• Hierarchical Structure: Parent-child relationships for threaded discussions
• Comment Types: general, review, question, suggestion
• Status Management: active, edited, deleted, flagged states
• Engagement: Like counts and reply threading
• Moderation: User vs admin permissions for editing/deletion