Get DOIs

What is a DOI?

A digital object identifier (DOI) is a unique identifier associated with an electronic object and contains metadata that makes the object significantly easier to find and track how it has been cited.

What can we issue DOIs for?

DOIs are assigned to any entity for use on the Web. Digital objects may include:

• images
• data and data sets
• books
• book chapters
• research reports
• dissertations

How does it help?

DOIs help level the playing field between prestigious journal articles and other research outputs, artifacts and resources by:

1. Making your research more discoverable. DOIs are widely used in scholarly publishing to cite journal articles and research data. They contain metadata that speaks to Google, ORCID, Datacite. Crossref, VIVO, DataOne and many more, making it way more visible online.
2. Providing a persistent home. A DOI is a persistent identifier that is available and managed over time; this means it will not change if the item or object is moved or renamed.
3. Helping you track your scholarly impact. The DOI standard (ISO 26324:2012) is the foundation of Datacite/Crossref linking service, which allows location and tracking of both cited and citing references in the scholarly record. DOIs are widely used in scholarly publishing to cite journal articles and research data.
   

How is UBC assigning DOIs?

UBC Library is providing a free service for UBC users to obtain DOIs for digital objects. Objects deposited into UBC Library repositories: cIRcle (for text, PDFs, audio and video resources), UBC Dataverse @Scholars Portal (for research datasets) or CONTENTdm (for digitized images) will automatically be assigned DOIs and be given persistent URLs that do not break.

If deposit in a UBC Library repository is not an option (e.g, for data sets that are actively growing), a DOI can be created by the Library Technical Service unit or by utilizing our online app. UBC Library requires that the resource must be accessible via the Web and housed on the ubc.ca domain (or subdomains), and the creator must supply basic metadata about the resource to include in the DOI registry. Users will be responsible for keeping the DOI registry up to date in the event the resource is moved to a new URL.

What data do I need to provide?

Here is the metadata we need from you to create a DOI:

• URI/URL
• Title
• Creator(s)
• Publisher
• Publication Year
• Type of your Resource (e.g. Software, Sound, Dataset, Text, etc)
  

All DOIs assigned through UBC service will start with 10.14288

DOIs are assigned through registration agencies. UBC Library has partnered with National Research Council Canada, a DataCite Canada site, a central registration centre for Canadian DOIs. DataCite Canada (http://nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/datacite) is part of the broader international DataCite (www.datacite.org) initiative providing a global DOI registration agency for research objects.

How can I get started?

To get started, please email – doi.library@ubc.ca or visit https://doi.library.ubc.ca/. If you have a large collection of objects for DOI registration or your unit needs to issue DOIs programmatically or independently, or you have any further questions about DOIs, please contact Leonora Crema, Scholarly Communications Librarian at leonora.crema@ubc.ca.