DOIs for research
Use Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) when publishing research outputs and data to provide a persistent, unique link for access, citation and impact tracking.
On this page:
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, persistent identifier that allows your research output, data or artefact to be found and cited.
Benefits of DOIs
Using a DOI:
- Creates a permanent reference, making your research output or data more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable)
- Enables citation of research outputs or data and tracking of impact metrics
- Distinguishes objects with similar titles or different versions
Using DOIs
Examples
DOIs can be assigned to any research output, data or artefact (physical or digital) that you would like to make citable. This could include book chapters, datasets, Illustrations, journal articles, models, preprints, posters, recordings of music, reports, source code or videos of performances.
Assigning DOIs
DOIs are usually assigned to research outputs as part of the publishing process.
Most publishers will assign a DOI to your peer-reviewed journal article or book chapter as part of their publication process. Preprint servers such as ArXiv enable authors to post an early version of the paper online with a DOI.
For other research outputs, the University provides an Institutional Figshare repository to publish outputs while assigning DOIs. When describing the data in a repository, you will need to provide information such as author, title, publication year and resource type. The DOI assigned to your data will resolve to a landing page describing the item and, where possible, provide access to download the item.
Citing and linking
Including the DOI when citing your research output supports the FAIR principles for research data and makes it easier for others to find and cite your work. Most repositories will generate a suggested citation, which you can use when citing in other works, or you can add the DOI to Data availability statements in the corresponding peer-reviewed article to link the two works.
Linking DOIs between related materials allows others to more readily access your scholarly work, increasing transparency, reproducibility and impact, and is recommended in the University's Research Data Management Policy. Some funders also require you to submit DOIs or other persistent identifiers to them when reporting outputs.
More information
Contact
Research Data Support Services
Email: researchdata@auckland.ac.nz
eResearch Engagement Lead
Email: Laura Armstrong