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Full name | Digital Object Identifier |
---|---|
Acronym | DOI |
Organisation | International DOI Foundation |
Introduced | October 1997[1] |
Example | 10.1000/182 |
Website | www |
A digital object identifier (DOI) is a persistent identifier or handle used to uniquely identify various objects, standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).[2] DOIs are an implementation of the Handle System;[3][4] they also fit within the URI system (Uniform Resource Identifier). They are widely used to identify academic, professional, and government information, such as journal articles, research reports, data sets, and official publications.
A DOI aims to resolve to its target, the information object to which the DOI refers. This is achieved by binding the DOI to metadata about the object, such as a URL where the object is located. Thus, by being actionable and interoperable, a DOI differs from ISBNs or ISRCs which are identifiers only. The DOI system uses the indecs Content Model to represent metadata.
The DOI for a document remains fixed over the lifetime of the document, whereas its location and other metadata may change. Referring to an online document by its DOI should provide a more stable link than directly using its URL. But if its URL changes, the publisher must update the metadata for the DOI to maintain the link to the URL.[5][6][7] It is the publisher's responsibility to update the DOI database. If they fail to do so, the DOI resolves to a dead link, leaving the DOI useless.[8]
The developer and administrator of the DOI system is the International DOI Foundation (IDF), which introduced it in 2000.[9] Organizations that meet the contractual obligations of the DOI system and are willing to pay to become a member of the system can assign DOIs.[10] The DOI system is implemented through a federation of registration agencies coordinated by the IDF.[11] The cumulative number of DOIs has increased exponentially over time, from 50 million registrations in 2011 to 391 million in 2025.[12] The rate of registering organizations ("members") has also increased over time from 4,000 in 2011 to 9,500 in 2013, but the federated nature of the system means it's not immediately clear how many members there are in total today.[13] Fake registries have even appeared.[14]
Assuming the publishers do their job of maintaining the databases, these centralized references, unlike current web links, should never become outdated or broken
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