25 million doi

Link: CrossRef: CROSSREF SURPASSES 25 MILLION DOI MARK.

This is a somewhat specialist topic, but I would like to share with you the news that Crossref has just given out its 25 millionth doi (digital object identifier). We are all familiar with the URL, I have forgotten what it stands for (probably something starting with "unique"), which is the address of a web page. You see it in the navigation widow right at the top of the web page, and can use it as a marker to return to that page at any time.....so long as it is still there, that is.

The doi is a unique number that an online publisher assigns to an article that it is publishing. It is a sign of commitment by the publisher that it will love, support and cherish that web page (or article) forever. The publisher is saying "we think this article has value".

Some time ago, most of the leading STM (science, technical and medical) publishers got together and formed an organisation called crossref.org. This organisation provides an indexing system for published articles. All the publishers who are in crossref use the same numbering system. That is why, if you are reading an academic article online and you scroll to the list of citations, you can click on one and find yourself at the cited article.

I love the doi because it is one of those instances where publishers who are usually in competition with each other have recognised a mutual, common need. They realised that if they all subscribe to the same indexing system, they will all benefit, which means,  crucially, that the readers of all their content will benefit.

So publishers now give all their articles a doi. That number is assigned by the editors when the article is published. You, the readers, can navigate around the vast online literature universe using the system -- all 25 million items of it (more since I started writing this post). And if the publisher is worth its salt, if there is a doi, there should not be a broken link or other "dead" site, as the publisher will be maintaining the article in an archive.

Comments

[Gordon McCabe]

Hi Maxine! I too have noticed that my well-thought out blog entries tend to get no comments, whilst the silly ones tend to get loads of comments. I thought I would therefore find one of your well-thought out entries, and add a comment!

The DOI is great, but if you don't have an institution-based subscription, you do tend to find that a DOI simply takes you to yet another opening fragment of a paper, which invites you to part with an astonishing amount of money to gain access to the paper in question.

[Maxine]

Very true, Gordon, the doi will select for this effect, because it is the formal publishers who assign the dois. But there may be some cause and effect between the two, as there is nothing more annoying than defunct or broken links, even paying to read content -- it could be seen as a neat demonstration of one of the things that publishers do with the subscription/licence revenue.
Thank you for your very thoughtful comment on my probably not so thoughtful, but attempting to be so, post!