DOI Basics

A digital object identifier (DOI) is a digital persistent identifier assigned to an object. DOIs resolve to a landing page URL that includes information describing the object.

A DOI has a specific structure. The structure of a DOI includes a resolver service provided by the DOI Foundation, a prefix provided by the DOI registration agency (e.g. Crossref or DataCite), and a suffix provided by the organization assigning the DOI. An optional infix can be provided by the organization assigning the DOI.

DOI Benefits

• DOIs enable standard citation.
• DOIs enable greater discovery through indexing in common search engines and research discovery platforms.
• DOIs are more stable and persistent links than normal URLs. While information about the research object may change or be updated over time, the DOI itself is persistent.
• DOI assignment to research objects enables funding offices, National Laboratories, and user facilities to more easily track the impact of their support.
• DOIs facilitate linkages to other persistent identifiers and associated research outputs such as publications, scientific data, scientific software, and technical reports.

DOI Responsibilities

Assigning DOIs to scientific data comes with certain responsibilities, as a DOI is meant to be persistent. The DOI Foundation and DataCite provide guidance regarding DOI assignment:

• Only assign DOIs to content that your organization has responsibility for (hosted/managed/created as your organization).
• Only assign DOIs to unique content — do not assign DOIs to content already published elsewhere with a DOI.
• DOIs must resolve to a publicly available landing page. The underlying content does not need to be publicly available, but the metadata must be open/public. Please see our FAQs for more information on landing pages.
• Update the DOI metadata if it changes over time.