Anthropology 116 (DeLugan, Spring 2024)

DOI DEFINITION

A DOI, or Digital Object Identifier, is a unique string of numbers and letters that permanently identifies an article, or other work, and links to it on the web. In short, a DOI is a permanent or persistent identifier. 

DOIs are intended to make information retrieval easier.

• DOIs identify with the content rather than a location. If the item changes location, the publisher is responsible for pointing the DOI to the new location. If this updating does not take place, you can end up with a dead DOI.

DOI FORMATS -- ACTIVE or INACTIVE

When you locate an article, the DOIs may be formatted as active or inactive.

An active DOI looks like a hyperlink.

• Example: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.09.012

• Example: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057079608708478

An inactive DOI omits https//doi.org/ and often starts with 10 (especially if assigned pre-2011).

• Example: DOI: 10.2307/1354482

• More sites are now using active DOIs. This used to be an inactive example from a JSTOR article.  

MAKE a DOI ACTIVE

Simply add http://doi.org/ OR http://dx.doi.org/ before the DOI number to make it active. 

RESOLVE a DOI

Have a DOI in the inactive format?  Visit https://www.doi.org/ and paste in the DOI number to locate the item associated with the DOI.

DOIs are NOT UNIVERSAL

Not all articles, or other information sources, have a DOI.

These are examples of articles where a DOI is available BUT it is not provided at the article's landing page.

• See an example in JSTOR.
• See an example in ProjectMuse.

INTRIGUED?

• The DOI Handbook provide more information, including the history, of the DOI system.

Scan the web page or source. If one is assigned, it is mostly likely near the top of the web page where you located the article or maybe on the article itself.

Use CrossRef. Select the "Search Metadata"tab and paste in the title of your article, book chapter etc.

Let's try locating a DOI for these examples using CrossRef.

1. Textbook broke: Textbook affordability as a social justice issue
2. Using emotional and social factors to predict student success
3. Craniomandibular status and function in patients with habitual snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea ...

No. Though scholarly sources, especially peer-reviewed journal articles, are likely to have a DOI, non-scholarly sources may be assigned a DOI.  For example, this data set has been assigned a DOI.

It depends. Consult your citation style guide (APA, MLA, CSE etc.) to determine what the style requires. Though not all citations style want DOIs formatted in the same way, many styles seem to be moving toward using the active DOI format.

In these styles, DOIs are usually preferred over regular URLs.