Abstract
In this paper, we present a easy-to-cite and persistent infrastructure (shortref.org) for research and data citation in the form a URL shortener service. Reproducibility of results is very important for the extension of research and is directly depends on the availability of the research data.
The advancements in the web technologies made redistribution of the data much more easy nowadays, however, due to the dynamic nature of the web, the content is consistently on the move from one destination to another. The URLs researchers use for the citation of their contents do not directly account for these changes and many times when the users try to access the cited URLs, the data is either not available or moved to a newer version.
In our proposed solution, the shortened URLs are not simple URLs but use persistent identifiers and provide a reliable mechanism to make the data always accessible that can directly improve the impact of research.