Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

DOIs are open and persistent unique identifiers for research outputs such as articles, books and book chapters, conference proceedings, data sets, and more. It is a persistent identifier to recognize objects uniquely, standardized for standardization by the International Standard Organization (ISO) (ISO 26324:2012(en); Information and Documentation, 2012).

DOIs are likely the most known and used research PIDs, with Crossref and DataCite among the most commonly used services. This DOI is making improved discovery and delivery of research outputs possible. Crossref makes research outputs easy to find, cite, link, assess, and reuse (Crossref, n.d.). DataCite gathers metadata for each DOI assigned to an object. The metadata is used for a large index of research data that can be queried directly to find data, obtain stats and explore connections. All the metadata is free to access and review (DataCite, n.d.). You can join DataCite if you want to register DOIs and use their services.