What is a DOI (Digital Object Identifier)?
Answer
A Digital Object Identifier (or DOI) is a string of letters and numbers that permanently identifies a document, article or resource and makes it searchable on the web. Each DOI is unique and is registered through the International DOI Foundation. Its best thought of as the fingerprint for an article or document.
Using an article's DOI is the recommended method in for citation If a DOI is not available, then, depending on the citation style you are using, you'll need to do something else. For APA citations end the reference item after the page range. Otherwise use the URL from the journals homepage, not the article URL.
To find a DOI, you can look in several different places
- The first page of the document, near the copyright information
- The "landing page" of the article
- Use the "Search Metadata" option on Crossref