DataCite - English version

What is DataCite

DataCite is a leading global non-profit organisation that provides persistent identifiers (DOIs specifically) for research data and other research outputs. Currently, DataCite is one of ten official DOI Registration Agencies.

What is DOI

DOI is an acronym for Digital Object Identifier. It can be assigned to digital resources (materials, publications, software code, etc.) in order to unambiguously identify them regardless of their publishing form, and even to identify unpublished materials.

DOI consists of two elements: the prefix, a namespace so that DOIs are globally unique, and the second part identifying an object within the namespace indicated by the prefix.

DOI is a type of persistent identifier, which means it’s not supposed to be deleted after registration. When any data regarding the resource associated with DOI changes (eg. URL to publisher’s website), information about it must be updated in the DOI metadata. There is no need to create new DOI for the resource.

A Registered Service Provider

Registered Service Provider is an organization that is integrated with DataCite API. It allows DataCite Members to register and update DOIs.

Data range supported by DOI Registration Agencies

DOI Registration Agencies support wide range of data, but each one also has specific focus. For example Crossref is mostly known for articles and books due to its focus on publishers - but it supports other data types. DataCite supports a wide variety of data - from datasets and publications to phd theses and unpublished materials. It is mostly recommended for repositories, while Crossref is recommended for publishers.

Data types available to be registered using Omega-PSIR system

Omega-PSIR supports registering and downloading data of the following types:

  • book (in DataCite: Book, ConferenceProceeding)

  • chapter (BookChapter, ConferencePaper)

  • article (JournalArticle, ConferencePaper)

  • research data (Dataset)

  • phd (Dissertation)

  • report (Report)

System Omega-PSIR is compatible with Metadata Schema 4 version (https://schema.datacite.org/).

Account types in DataCite

There are two DataCite environments - test and production. A member is given different login credentials to each of them. So it is very important to double check credentials when there are any issues.

More information: https://support.datacite.org/docs/what-is-the-difference-between-the-datacite-test-and-production-environments

Within test and production DataCite there are two different types of accounts - the organization account (with login like XXXX, all capital letters) and the repository account (login like XXXX.XXXX).

An organization account is for contact information, creating and updating repositories. A repository account allows users to create DOIs and update metadata.

It’s important to use repository account credentials when registering DOIs. Attempting to use organization account credentials will result in an error.

More information: https://support.datacite.org/docs/what-is-the-difference-between-a-memberconsortium-organization-account-and-a-repository-account-in-fabrica

DOI states in DataCite

DOIs created and updated in DataCite can have one of three states:

  • draft (hidden) - creates DOI. This status doesn’t require any metadata (user can create empty DOI) and the system doesn’t validate any metadata sent in draft state. Such DOI can be deleted

  • findable (published) - DOI is registered and findable in DataCite registry. Upon updating to findable state, metadata is validated and is indexed in https://commons.datacite.org/

  • registered (hidden) - DOI is registered but not findable (hidden in DataCite registry). It's recommended to use registered state when the resource is no longer available, for example if a dataset is retracted

More information: https://support.datacite.org/docs/doi-states

Once deleted, identical DOI can’t be created again, even when it have never been used or had no metadata added.