What is DOI (Digital Object Identifier)?
A DOI is a digital identifier of an intellectual property object published on the Internet. A DOI may be assigned both to scientific collections, journals, monographs, and textbooks, as well as to individual articles, abstracts, chapters of scientific books, etc. It serves as a kind of serial number used for permanent and unique identification.
A DOI contains various information: the URL of the article/abstract on the Internet, the title of the article/abstract, details about the author(s), information about the publication, and other metadata.
The DOI identifier consists of a prefix and a suffix.
The DOI prefix is a unique identifier of the publisher. It can be obtained only from specialized agencies whose activities are coordinated by the International DOI Foundation. For example, the prefix of our publication is as follows: 10.36074.
The DOI suffix is the identifier of a specific object (in our case, an article), consisting of numbers and/or letters and symbols, and is always unique. A DOI is typically indicated on the imprint page of a publication as 10.36074/grail-of-science.10.05.2024.001 or in the form of a link: https://doi.org/10.36074/grail-of-science.10.05.2024.001.
Why is a DOI needed?
First of all, the presence of a DOI guarantees the preservation of scientific publications on the Internet. The archive of materials assigned a DOI is continuously maintained and expanded. Distributed archival storage systems are often used, such as LOCKSS and CLOCKSS. This means that an article or issue will not “disappear” from the publisher’s website archive over time.
Another advantage is the recognizability and universality of DOI usage, as it is used by the vast majority of reputable scientific publishers worldwide. Assigning a DOI positively affects the author’s reputation, as materials can be indexed in leading global scientific bibliographic databases.
A publication with a DOI is much easier to cite and include in a reference list: different citation styles or even formatting errors will not be an issue if the DOI is provided correctly. Moreover, a DOI ensures the reliability of the cited source, as it always allows access to the publication to verify quotations or other referenced information.
Thus, by assigning a DOI to your article, you receive:
■ a guarantee of permanent access to the published work;
■ backup storage of the published work’s metadata in Crossref, WorldCat, etc.;
■ the possibility of increasing the number of citations of the published work;
■ recognition by the global community of researchers and academic publishers.
