Short answer: A DOI for a journal article is registered by the publisher, not the author. The journal must be a member of a DOI registration agency (for journal articles that is almost always Crossref), and it deposits your article's metadata when the paper is published. As an author, you register a DOI by publishing in a journal that is a Crossref member. For preprints and datasets, free repositories such as Zenodo can give you a DOI directly.
What a DOI is and why it matters
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a permanent identifier for a piece of research. It looks like 10.xxxx/yyyy: the part before the slash is the prefix, assigned to the publisher, and the part after is the suffix, chosen for the individual article. Prefixes always start with 10., followed by a number unique to the registrant.
Web addresses break when journals move platforms. A DOI keeps working, because it points to a registry record that the publisher updates. That is why citation managers, indexing databases and promotion committees rely on DOIs to identify papers.
Who can register a DOI?
DOIs are issued through registration agencies. The two you are most likely to meet are:
| Crossref | DataCite | |
|---|---|---|
| Main content | Journal articles, books, conference papers, preprints | Datasets, software, repository content |
| Members | Publishers, journals, societies, universities | Data centres, repositories, libraries |
| Typical user | A journal registering its articles | A repository registering uploaded files |
Neither agency issues DOIs to individual authors for journal articles. If a website offers to "register a Crossref DOI" for your paper without publishing it in a member journal, be careful: a DOI deposited by an unrelated party will not connect your article to a real journal.
How DOI registration works for a research paper
Here is what happens behind the scenes when a Crossref member journal publishes your article:
- The journal joins Crossref. It becomes a member, agrees to Crossref's terms and receives its own DOI prefix.
- Your paper is accepted and typeset. The journal assigns a suffix and builds the full DOI.
- Metadata is deposited. The journal sends Crossref the article title, authors, affiliations, ORCID iDs, publication date, volume and issue, references, licence and funding details, either as XML or through Crossref's web deposit form.
- The DOI goes live. Within minutes to hours,
https://doi.org/10.xxxx/yyyyresolves to the article's landing page. - Metadata is maintained. If the article URL changes or a correction is issued, the journal updates the record so the DOI keeps working.
What does Crossref charge?
Crossref charges member organisations two kinds of fee: an annual membership fee, tiered by the size of the publisher, and a content registration fee for each DOI (around US$1 for a current journal article). Crossref's own fees page has the current figures. These are costs for the publisher. Authors in a member journal typically get the DOI as part of publication.
Free DOI registration options
If you need a DOI for something that is not a journal article, there are free routes:
- Zenodo (run by CERN): free DOIs for papers, preprints, posters, datasets and software.
- Figshare: free DOIs for datasets, figures and supplementary files.
- OSF Preprints and subject preprint servers: DOIs for preprints.
These DOIs are real and permanent, but they identify a repository upload. They do not make a paper peer reviewed or published in a journal. Universities and promotion boards usually look for the journal article DOI.
What authors should check after publication
- Open your DOI at doi.org and confirm it lands on your article, not the journal home page.
- Search the DOI on Crossref Search and check the title, author names and order, and affiliations.
- Make sure your ORCID iD is attached, so the paper appears on your ORCID record automatically.
- Cite the paper with its DOI in your CV and applications.
Mistakes in the deposited metadata, such as a misspelled author name, can be corrected by the publisher. Ask the journal sooner rather than later, as wrong metadata spreads to citation databases.
How IndexedPub handles DOI registration
We have been a Crossref member since 2014. Every paper we publish receives a Crossref DOI with complete metadata, including ORCID iDs, references and funding information, deposited on the day of publication. See our Crossref DOI registration service for details.
Frequently asked questions
Can an individual author register a DOI for a journal article?
Not directly with Crossref. Crossref members are organisations such as publishers, journals and universities. If your paper is published in a journal that is a Crossref member, the journal registers the DOI for you. Individuals can get free DOIs for preprints, datasets and other outputs through repositories such as Zenodo, Figshare or OSF.
Is DOI registration free?
For authors publishing in a Crossref member journal, the DOI is normally included in the publication process. Publishers pay Crossref an annual membership fee plus a small fee for each DOI registered. Repositories such as Zenodo offer free DOIs for research outputs, but these are not journal publications.
What is the difference between Crossref and DataCite?
Both are DOI registration agencies. Crossref focuses on scholarly publications such as journal articles, books and conference papers. DataCite focuses on research data, software and repository content. Journal articles normally receive Crossref DOIs.
How long does it take for a new DOI to work?
Once the publisher deposits the metadata with Crossref, the DOI usually starts resolving within minutes to a few hours. If a DOI does not work a day after publication, ask the journal to check that the deposit succeeded.