What is a DOI?

The DOI Foundation describes a DOI as a digital identifier of any object, physical, digital or abstract. The number has a prefix and a suffix separated by a forward slash; the Foundation’s own example is 10.1000/182. The prefix currently always begins with 10 and identifies the organization that registered the DOI, while the suffix is a string chosen by that organization and unique within its prefix. Nothing definitive about the object can be inferred from the DOI itself.

No single office hands out DOIs. The DOI Foundation governs the system, and registration agencies such as Crossref (the agency most relied upon by the research community) and DataCite (research data and other outputs) register them on behalf of their members. The publisher of an article usually registers its DOI; if the web address changes, the publisher updates the metadata and the DOI stays the same. Resolving a DOI is free.

Crossref and DataCite ask for the full link form, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx, and Crossref adds that it should not be preceded by doi: or DOI:. Crossref states that a DOI is not a mark of quality or endorsement; it only confirms that an item has been published. To identify people, use an ORCID iD.