Use a web.archive.org identifier for a related object

Use this procedure when you want to add a related object to a RAiD but the object does not have a DOI (or other persistent identifier), and you need a stable, citable link to it instead.

Applicability

This procedure applies to the ARDC RAiD Service User Interface. It covers both manual entry (Add Related Object) and bulk upload.

Background

Every related object needs an identifier, a type, and one or more categories. A DOI is the preferred identifier. When the object cannot get a DOI, for example grey literature, ethics approvals, protocols, internal reports, grants, or any web page that could change or disappear, use a timestamped http://web.archive.org URL instead. This is the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which snapshots a specific page at a specific point in time and gives it a fixed, permanent address.

This applies to grants: Australia does not yet systematically mint DOIs for grants, so a grant with a public web page (e.g. a funder's grant summary page) should be added as a related object using an archived snapshot of that page as its identifier.

Note that this is different from the alternateIdentifier field, which stores alternate identifiers for the RAiD (the project) itself — not for related objects like grants.

Prerequisites

• To add the related object, you will need to be an authorised Operator, Service Point Admin, or Service Point User of at least one ARDC RAiD Service Point.

• The RAiD you want to update must already exist. See Mint a new RAiD.

• A free http://archive.org account is not required to use Save Page Now via web.archive.org/save/, though creating one adds extra options (e.g. email notification when a save completes) and may reduce rate-limiting.

Process

1. Create a permanent snapshot of the page

1. Open the page you want to archive and copy its full URL.

2. Go to https://web.archive.org/save/.

3. Paste the URL and click Save Page.

4. Wait for the capture to finish. The Wayback Machine will return an archived URL in the form: https://web.archive.org/web/[timestamp]/[original URL] for example: https://web.archive.org/web/20260525114818/https://ardc.edu.au/ The timestamp (yyyymmddhhmmss) records exactly when the snapshot was taken — 25 May 2026, 11:48:18 in the example above.

5. Copy this full timestamped URL. This is the identifier you will use for the related object.

2. Add the related object in the RAiD User Interface

1. Log in to the RAiD User Interface.

2. Locate the RAiD you want to update and click through to its record.

3. Click Edit RAiD.

4. Scroll to the Related Objects section.

5. Click Add Related Object.

6. In the Identifier field, paste the timestamped http://web.archive.org URL from step 1.

7. Set the Type — exactly one type per object.

8. Set the Category — one or more categories (Input, Internal process document or artefact, Output).

9. Click SAVE to save the RAiD.

If you have several such objects to add at once, use bulk upload instead — the same timestamped URL format is accepted in the Identifier column of the spreadsheet template.

Things to note

• Always use the timestamped snapshot URL, not a bare web.archive.org/web/[original URL] link. A URL without a timestamp redirects to whatever the most recent capture happens to be at the time someone clicks it, which can change. The timestamped form points to one fixed capture permanently.

• Save Page Now archives a single page only — it does not capture an entire site, directory, or linked sub-pages. Archive each page you need to reference separately.

• Some pages cannot be archived if they are blocked by the site's robots.txt, are password-protected, or rely heavily on JavaScript that needs to contact the original server.

• A related object still requires exactly one type and at least one category, whether its identifier is a DOI or a http://web.archive.org URL. See valid types and categories in Bulk upload related objects to a RAiD.