Digital Object Identifers

What can I use a DOI for?

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are unique and permanent identifiers providing a persistent link to a digital object. They can be used for any digital object such as peer-reviewed publications, data sets, code, and pre-prints. DOIs are appropriate for material that is:

UNIQUE: The content for which the DOI is being requested must not have previously received a DOI.

STATIC: The content is final and static. Major updates or new versions can be assigned new DOIs rather than replacing the existing content. For example a revision of a digital text book should receive a new DOI rather than updating the original edition.  Continually updating datasets, for example, are not appropriate candidates for a DOI; instead, you should create a snapshot in time.

FINDABLE:

• DOIs must resolve to a landing page that follows DataCite best practices, rather than the content itself.
• The landing page’s URL should be a permalink, meaning permanent into the future and unlikely to change with any website redesign or change in staffing.
• The landing page should include descriptive metadata about the content.

What does a DOI look like?

All DOI numbers begin with a 10 and contain a prefix and a suffix separated by a slash. The prefix is a unique number assigned to organizations; the suffix is assigned by the the organization.

Examples:

To make a DOI resolvable, add the DOI to the end of this url:

http://dx.doi.org/

For example, the research data set above (10.5061/dryad.6t94p) can be resolved to:

http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6t94p

Steps for getting a DOI from Missouri S&T University Libraries

Before you get started, look at the examples above to get an idea of how the information you provide for your DOI will appear. Working through the following steps will ensure that the DOI registration for your content follows the best practices set out by DataCite.

Step 1: Ensure that an identical version of the object has not already been published elsewhere and been given a DOI.

Step 2: Prepare information about the object.

• In order to request a DOI you are required to provided certain mandatory metadata. Additionally, you will be ask to provide recommended and optional metadata. Please review our  Metadata Properties page to learn more about metadata data requirements before proceeding with your DOI request.
• The mandatory information we need from you to create a DOI includes:
  • A citation of the work.
  • Creator(s): Authors of the object (anyone who should appear in the citation).
  • Title: Title of project/object.
  • Publisher: The name of the entity that holds, archives, publishes prints, distributes, releases, issues, or produces the resource.
  • Publication Year: The year when the data was or will be made publicly available.
  • Resource Type: Text, Dataset, Image, etc.

Step 3: Input gathered information into the DOI Request Form.

Step 4: You will receive the DOI via email.

Once the DOI has been registered, the landing page in Scholars' Mine should display the DOI, and the DOI should be tagged to be machine readable. If you have other questions about acquiring a DOI, please email scholarsmine.mst.edu.