Looking Ahead: The Research Nexus and the State of Metadata in 2050

Metadata provenance and the research nexus are key to scholarly communication, ensuring discovery, citation, and trust. Persistent identifiers (PIDs) link research outputs, people, and organizations, evolving from static records to dynamic, interconnected metadata. By 2050, research outputs will expand to AI-assisted studies and virtual reality, requiring richer metadata and machine learning for relationship mapping. Challenges include inclusivity, financial sustainability, and open access. Crossref envisions a global, open research ecosystem where metadata fosters transparency, trust, and reproducibility, guided by the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI).