By: David Kennedy, PhD (https://doi.org/10.18116/fz7b-8659)

NITRC can mint DOI’s for NITRC content (software and data) in the NITRC File Release System (FRS, the infrastructure behind the ‘download’ tab for each NITRC project). DOI’s (digital object identifiers: ‘Digital Identifier of an Object’) are a unique identifier that ‘provides an actionable, interoperable, persistent link for an object'. In NITRC’s case, objects can be software and data. DOI’s were originally used for publications, but their use has been greatly extended recently to support a broader variety of research ‘products’. DOI’s are useful for citation (and hence credit tracking); DOIs can be cited, and have existing infrastructure to monitor citations.

A DOI consists of a unique identifier that will resolve to a webpage (also called the ‘landing page’ for the DOI) pointed to with a Digital Object Identifier System. It is the creator (minter) of the DOI's obligation (NITRC in this case for the NITRC user) to guarantee the persistence and accuracy of the landing page. The landing page, if conforming to best practices, should include:

• A full bibliographic citation of the item, so users can confirm they have located the correct item.


• Includes the DOI displayed as a URL.


• Provides a way to access the data/content.


• Provide appropriately tagged content in the code for the page for machine accessibility.

NITRC helps guide you through the process and provides DOI maintenance functions.

In summary, increase your research productivity and impact by getting credit for all your research products. Consider adding DOI's to your existing shared NITRC content, and if you have content that should be shared, but isn’t, why not share that now, at NITRC!

Quarterly Newsletter Article from December 10, 2019