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MIT DOI Service

What is a DOI?

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are a type of persistent unique resource locator (PURL) that provide a persistent link to a digital object, such as a publication or a dataset.

Why get a DOI?

Given their unique assignment to a specific research output and permanence, DOIs make it easy to discover, share, and cite your work.

MIT DOI minting service

The MIT DOI minting service allows MIT community members seeking to establish a repository to work as clients of MIT Libraries through Data Management Services (DMS) to create DOIs for their repository at no cost.

The service does not provide one-off DOIs nor is it a repository service for storing your research output. For both of these needs, Data Management Services can help MIT researchers find a suitable repository. Contact data-management@mit.edu.

DMS offers this DOI service under its membership within the Global Dataverse Community Consortium (GDCC) and its relationship with DataCite, a registration agency licensed by the International DOI Foundation to provide DOI services.

Repository Client criteria

Clients of this service must:

  • be MIT affiliated
  • establish a Trusted Repository that commits to providing “reliable, long-term access to managed digital resources” (RLG-OCLC, 2002). “The TRUST Principles for digital repositories” offers a useful framework – Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology – for evaluating the alignment of a repository to this mission.
  • agree to the MIT DOI Service Terms of Service, which stipulates, in part, that the Client must agree to maintain the data and the DataCite record associated with the DOI.

Repository Client benefits

Repository clients of the MIT DOI Service have free and direct access to many services and features provided by DataCite, including:

  • 2,000 DOIs per year (with the option to exceed that limit in a given year at zero additional cost or a negotiated rate)
  • a modern user interface to create and manage users, to configure a custom DOI prefix, to register a DOI on demand, to access reports and statistics
  • listing in the DataCite directory
  • access to the new metadata store (MDS) application programming interface (API) for system integration
  • DataCite’s technical support and extensive documentation

Become a DOI Service Client

For more information about this service or to become a client, contact us at doi-contact@mit.edu.