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| Electronic Science article with DOI. |
On August 2,
CrossRef changed
its recommendation for how DOIs should be displayed. Now CrossRef recommends that DOIs include the prefix "http://dx.doi.org/" in addition to the DOI code. Before, it was standard practice to only display the code of a DOI.
But what
is a DOI? It's a "
digital object identifier," a
string of characters used to cite and to link to an electronic document. For various reasons, DOIs are more permanent and reliable than an URL -- DOIs are
guaranteed to never change, unlike regular URLs.
And, how does this DOI code and prefix thing work? Here's an example. In the image to the above is from the online journal
Science, highlighted is the DOI code -- 10.1126/science.1203659. That code in specific to that article. It can use used to cite the article. But if you were to type only that code into a web browser search box, nothing would happen. Instead, if you add the prefix "http://dx.doi.org/" to the DOI code, the DOI is automatically routed through an
existing DOI resolver website, and then takes you to the electronic article.
Try it. Copy and paste or type the following character string into a web browser search box: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1203659
Now hit the "enter" key or the "search" button in your web browser. If you are using a WMU computer or a WMU wireless internet connection, it should take you directly to the
Science article titled
"Independently Evolved Virulence Effectors Converge onto Hubs in a Plant Immune System Network." If you are not using a WMU computer or WMU WiFi, you should be prompted to log in with your BroncoNet ID and password, and once you do, the article should pop right up.
But please note: if you are prompted to log in and don't have a BroncoNet ID and password (i.e., are not a WMU student, staff, or faculty member) you will not be able to access this article, even with the full DOI character string, unless you have a personal subscription or access to another institution's subscription to
Science.
Why is that? Some electronic documents are accessible only if you pay the publisher or aggregator that own those documents. WMU Libraries pays for a subscription to the journal
Science, so any student, staff, or faculty member has access to articles from this journal (within the scope of our subscription), including the article discussed above.
Another question you may have -- what is CrossRef and why do their standards matter? CrossRef is an organization that has a mandate to be "the citation linking backbone for all scholarly information in electronic form" and are the "official DOI registration agency for scholarly and professional publications." Over 3500 publishers and societies are members of CrossRef, including at least hundreds of of science-related journals and publishers. CrossRef in an important component in keeping the DOI system working.
CrossRef and DOIs. Who knew?
We now subscribe to the journal Nature Physics, and our subscription includes full text articles starting from volume 1 issue 1 (2005) to the present. If you are on campus, you can access the journal either by going to the Nature Physics website or via the Libraries website. If you are off campus, you will need to use the Libraries website to access full-text articles. If you try to access content from the journal website, the site won't recognize that you're part of the WMU Libraries' subscription and won't allow you access.
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