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DOIs 101 for Researchers
What is a DOI?
- DOI stands for “Digital Object Identifier” = a unique, permanent persistent link to information about an object online (such as a journal article, dataset, website, image, etc.)
- Clicking on a DOI link will take you to a web page where you can find out how to access the object
- If the location (URL) where the object is hosted changes over time, the DOI will stay the same, so the object can always be found
- Example DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5778321
Why should I care about DOIs?
- DOIs are essential to ensuring that the research and scholarly materials that you create and use are FAIR, in line with the FAIR principles:
- Findable - DOIs make it easier to find research and scholarly works
- Accessible - DOIs ensure that works can continue to be accessed over time
- Interoperable - DOIs work together with your ORCID iD to make sure you get credit for your work
- Reusable - DOIs make it easier to cite and reuse research and scholarly works
How should I use DOIs?
- When you are reusing or citing someone else’s work, make sure to include the DOI for the work if available (use the DOI Citation Formatter to create a DOI citation).
- If an object that you created has a DOI, use it when referencing or sharing your work.
How can I get a DOI for an object that I created?
- Many journal publishers, repository platforms and research organizations can assign a DOI to your work, either automatically or upon request. Check with the organization you are working with to see what their publishing workflow includes.
- FYI, DOIs are usually assigned to objects when they are ready to be shared/published.
- Remember, once a DOI is created it is permanent!
What else do I need to know?
- While DOIs are persistent, unique identifiers/links for objects, there is also a persistent unique identifier for researchers and contributors called ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor Identifier). Anyone can get an ORCID iD for free, and your ORCID iD can be linked to the DOIs for your works. Learn more about ORCID.
- For more information about DOIs and other persistent identifiers, see:
To access a printable/downloadable version of this document, see Google Doc: DOIs 101 for Researchers
Connecting Research, Identifying Knowledge