Digital Object Identifier

Overview

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a digital object. Each DOI is unique to a specific digital object, such as a research paper, report, or other type of scholarly material. The DOI system is managed by the International DOI Foundation (IDF), which oversees the registration agencies that assign DOIs to digital objects. The primary purpose of the DOI system is to facilitate the discovery and access of digital content in a consistent and reliable manner.

History

The DOI system was developed by the IDF in the late 1990s as a means of providing persistent and actionable identification for digital objects. The IDF, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1998 to develop and maintain the DOI system. The IDF is a member of the ISO, which has standardized the DOI system under ISO 26324.

Structure

A DOI is composed of a prefix and a suffix, separated by a slash. The prefix is a unique number assigned to the registrant (usually the publisher), and the suffix is assigned by the registrant to a specific object. The prefix always begins with "10" to signify that it is a DOI, followed by a four-digit number that represents the registrant. The suffix can be any combination of alphanumeric characters and has no restrictions on length or format.

For example, the DOI "10.1000/xyz123" indicates that the registrant is "1000" and the specific object is "xyz123". This DOI will always point to the same digital object, regardless of changes to the object's location or metadata.

Registration

Registration of a DOI is performed by a DOI registration agency. These agencies are responsible for assigning DOIs to digital objects, maintaining the metadata associated with each DOI, and providing services to resolve DOIs to their associated objects. There are currently over a dozen registration agencies worldwide, each serving different communities and types of content.

When a DOI is registered, the registrant provides metadata about the digital object, including its title, author, publication date, and location (URL). This metadata is stored in a central DOI directory, which is searchable and accessible to the public.

Resolution

Resolution is the process of using a DOI to access the digital object it identifies. This is typically done through a DOI resolver, a tool that takes a DOI as input and returns the current URL of the digital object. The most common DOI resolver is the one provided by the IDF, which is available at the domain "doi.org".

When a user inputs a DOI into the resolver, the resolver queries the DOI directory for the corresponding metadata, which includes the current URL of the digital object. The resolver then redirects the user to that URL.

Uses

DOIs are widely used in academic publishing to identify scholarly works. They are also used in other fields where persistent and reliable identification of digital objects is important, such as data management, digital preservation, and intellectual property rights management.

In academic publishing, DOIs are assigned to articles, reports, datasets, and other scholarly materials. They are used in citations to provide a reliable way of locating the cited work. DOIs are also increasingly used to link related works together, such as articles and their underlying datasets.

In data management, DOIs are used to identify datasets and other digital resources. They are used in data citation to provide a reliable way of locating the cited data. DOIs are also used to link datasets to their associated metadata, which can include information about the data's provenance, quality, and accessibility.

In digital preservation, DOIs are used to ensure that digital objects remain accessible even as technology changes. By providing a persistent identifier that remains the same regardless of changes to the object's location or format, DOIs enable long-term access to digital content.

In intellectual property rights management, DOIs are used to identify digital works for the purposes of rights management and licensing. They are used in digital rights management (DRM) systems to link digital works to their associated rights information.