What is a DOI? Strengths, Limitations & Components
Apr 26, 2024 |
7 Mins Read
DOI is short for Digital Object Identifier. It is a unique alphanumeric sequence assigned to digital objects, it is used to identify intellectual property on the internet. DOI’s are usually assigned to scholarly articles, datasets, books, videos and even pieces of software.
Understanding DOI's
The digital object identifier is a unique number made up of a prefix and suffix, segregated by a forward slash.
For example: 10.1000/182
The sequence always begins with a 10. The prefix is a unique 4 or more digit number assigned to establishments and the suffix is assigned by publisher as it is designed to be flexible with publisher identification standards.
Where can I find a DOI?
In most scholarly articles, the DOI should be on the cover page. If the DOI isn't included in the article, you may search for it on CrossRef.org by using the "Search Metadata" function.
How can I use the digital object identifier to find the article it refers to?
- If the DOI starts with http:// or https://, pasting it on your web browder will help you locate the article.
- You can turn any DOI starting with 10 into a URL by adding http://doi.org/ before the DOI. For example, 10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3 becomes https://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3
- If you're off campus when you do this, you'll need to use this URL prefix in front of the DOI to gain access to UIC's full text journal subscriptions: https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=https://doi.org/ . For example: https://proxy.cc.uic.edu/login?url=http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.3
Strengths of Digital Object Identifier
- Permanent identification: Digital object identifier provides a permanent link to digital content, making sure it remains accessible even if URL or metadata is updated.
- Citations: It uniquely identifies research papers, which facilitates accurate referencing and citing.
- Interoperability: DOIs are widely recognized as they can be utilised across different platforms, databases and systems.
- Tracking and metrics: DOIs provide key information like publication date, authors, keywords and more. This can be used to track usage metrics, measuring impact and improving discoverability
- Integration with services: DOIs are integrated with various tools like reference managers, academic search engines, and digital libraries. These mediums enhance the visibility and accessibility of research material with DOIs.
Limitations of Digital Object Identifier
- Cost: Digital object identifiers are costly for smaller organisations or individual researchers. While some services offer free digital object identifier registration for certain content, there may be fees associated with others, particularly for maintenance and updates.
- Accessibility: There may still be barriers to access for individual researchers or organisations in regions with limited resources. Ensuring equitable access to digital object identifier services and content remains a challenge.
- Content Preservation: While the sequence provide persistent links to digital content, they do not guarantee the preservation or long-term accessibility of that content. Ensuring the preservation of digital objects linked to DOIs require additional efforts and infrastructure beyond the system itself.
- Granularity: Sequences are assigned to individual digital objects, such as articles, datasets, or books. However, there may be cases where more granular identification is required, such as specific sections within a larger work or versions of a dataset. Addressing these granularity issues within the digital object identifier system can be complex.
Conduct your research on Zendy today
Now that you’ve gained a better understanding of how DOI works and impacts the world of research, you may begin your search and find your next academic discovery on Zendy! Our advanced search allows you to input DOI, ISSN, ISBN, publication, author, date, keyword and title. Give it a go on Zendy now.
Zendy signs global agreement with British Online Archives (BOA)
[Dubai, July 15, 2024] - Zendy, a global AI-powered digital research library, has signed an agreement with academic publisher, British Online Archives (BOA). This partnership will bring an influx of primary sources covering the humanities and social sciences to Zendy. British Online Archives is a leading academic publisher that hosts over five million records, carefully sourced from private and public archives, such as The National Archives (UK) and British Library. BOA’s specially curated primary source collections cover over 500 years of world history. They boast extensive documentation from across the globe, providing invaluable source material for students and researchers working within a wide range of scholarly disciplines. Zendy Co-founder, Kamran Kardan said, “We’re happy to partner with British Online Archives to diversify the academic content available on Zendy. The humanities and social sciences are pivotal in understanding the landscape of the current world. We’re delighted to welcome archival content onto our platform. Offering our users a diverse range of enriching scholarly literature is part of our core mission. Through partnerships, we can make a significant impact to ensure that accessibility remains at the forefront of innovation in the academic publishing industry.” Head of Publishing at British Online Archives, Katherine Waite, said, “We are delighted to be forming this partnership with Zendy, whose ethos of providing access to all researchers regardless of their location greatly aligns with our own goal of being an ethically conscious publisher. We look forward to working with them as we open new doors for researchers to access some of our great content.” This partnership with British Online Archives facilitates Zendy’s mission to enhance the discoverability of quality academic content all over the globe. With a significant increase in scholarly literature from the humanities and social sciences, Zendy aims to provide a seamless solution for accessibility with the convenience of having a wide range of research available on one easy-to-use platform. Zendy recently announced a series of new partnerships with IntechOpen, IEEE, IT Governance Publishing, and IGI Global. About Zendy: Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 500,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy is an AI-powered library that aims to make academic literature more affordable and accessible for students, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Zendy recently launched ZAIA - Zendy’s AI assistant for research. ZAIA is a domain-specific Large Language Model designed to help researchers deepen their knowledge base with credible answers backed by references. To learn more, visit www.zendy.io. About British Online Archives: British Online Archives is one of the United Kingdom's leading academic publishers whose goal is to provide students and researchers in the humanities and social sciences with access to unique collections of primary source documents. To learn more, visit www.microform.digital/boa/.
Deep Dive: The benefits of expert peer review in research
What is peer review? Peer review is the assessment of research papers by field experts, it is a collaborative process between research paper authors and field experts. The purpose of this process is to evaluate the quality of the research, suitability of publication, and acts as a rigorous quality control measure while also serving the author with valuable feedback. Understanding peer review The peer review process is vital to upholding the standard and quality of scholarly research, it also serves as an important support for authors. Peer reviews can alert authors to overlooked gaps in research and general errors as well. A survey conducted by sense about science found that 91% of respondents say their papers were significantly improved through peer review. The different types of peer review Single-anonymousDouble-anonymousOpenIn this approach, reviewers are aware of the author’s identity; however, the author does not know the identity of the reviewer. This method is usually applied in science and medical journalsThe double-anonymous process is when neither the author or reviewer is aware of each other’s identities, this is when utmost objectivity is achieved. This method is usually applied in fields of humanities and social sciences.The open method does not have a singular definition, however, it is when the author and reviewer are aware of each other’s identities. Furthermore, once the paper is published, the reviewers names and reports are also present alongside the article. The benefits of peer review Ensures quality and accuracy Peer review encourages authors to adhere to high standards in academic research, it stands to ensure only the best quality of research is disseminated. The process is designed to assess the validity, quality, and originality of submitted articles, hence filtering out those that are invalid. Furthermore, the reviewers are selected by journal editors that adhere to high standards and a comprehensive criteria to find the correct reviewer. Promotes objectivity and fairness The double-anonymous method is the most reliable method to reduce bias as both parties are not aware of each other’s identity, the process is designed to tackle inequality in scholarly publishing as it reduces bias with respect to gender, race, country, origin or affiliation. Encourages scholarly collaboration Peer reviews provide authors the platform to exchange ideas, methodologies, and findings while receiving insight from field experts, which enriches the academic landscape. It serves as a good networking opportunity and knowledge exchange. A taylor and francis study found that most researchers across all subject areas rated the contribution of peer review towards improving their articles as 8 or above, out of 10. Identifies and mitigates ethical issues Peer review catches ethical considerations like plagiarism, data fabrication, and conflicts of interest. To ensure an ethical process takes place, all conflicts of interest should be disclosed and confidentiality should be maintained. Ethics ensure the responsible conduct of research by providing clear guidelines, while also monitoring researchers and practices to ensure everything meets ethical standards. Find peer reviewed articles on Zendy In this blog, we covered the various aspects of peer review by explaining the purpose of the process and the factors it is designed to consider; we also dove into the different types of peer review and closed off with the benefits. To continue your research, you can log in to zendy.io and access millions of credible peer reviewed papers across all disciplines.
Our mission, Our AI
As a mission driven digital research library, Zendy is committedto helping reduce inequality in access to academic literature foraudiences worldwide. By working closely in partnership with publishers and data providers to create an affordable and accessible route to quality, peer reviewed content, we aim to even the playing field of global research, enabling students and researchers from underserved markets to participate in the global academic and policy dialogue and to contribute toidentifying solutions to our planet’s major challenges. We believe that AI has an important role to play in fostering a fairer research and publishing ecosystem. By leveraging AI, we can offer a range of innovative solutions to facilitate access to content and to make the search journey quicker and more efficient, thereby supporting researchers’ needs irrespective of funding or location. Whilst AI has the potential to transform research and education, Zendy acknowledges that it also raises ethical concerns around issues such as bias, privacy, and accountability. In response to these concerns and to the growing discussion around AI, we have formulated a list of AI imperatives to guide Zendy’s strategy for the development and integration of AI technologies into our products. Zendy’s AI Imperatives: AI in service of a better world In line with our mission to reduce inequality in research and publishing, we believe AI can help to positively impact society by facilitating access to and use of academic content. Our portfolio of AI solutions and our ongoing development work reflects this ethos, with a focus on solutions designed to support our users in their search for quality, reliable data. As a signatory to the UN’s Global Publishing Compact, and working hand in hand with our partners, we aim to offer a more enriched, personalised learning and discovery environment for all users globally, with AI very much in service of a better world. Openness, trust and transparency We explain our use of AI tools, defining them in terms of their abilities and limitations. We clarify how they fit in to our platform’s ecosystem and how users can make the most of them. If the tool makes use of partner copyrighted data, as per licensed agreements, we put in place limitations and clear safeguards on that use. We recognise the need for openness, trust and transparency across all our activities, and we are open to feedback from all of our stakeholders. Personal privacy and data governance Zendy is a committed advocate of personal privacy. As we continue to develop new solutions and acquire larger data sets, we safeguard the personal information which is shared with us through security policies and procedures to secure our systems. We also ensure that data is collected, reproduced, and protected in a compliant and appropriate manner in accordance with applicable privacy laws and regulations. Equity and unfair bias Fairness and equity are at the heart of our mission to help create a better world. As we develop and implement new AI tools and solutions, we put in place procedures to ensure reliability, and carry out extensive review. We recognise that biases and hallucinations present challenges in machine learning models, similar to their presence in human cognition. Completely eliminating these issues may compromise the reasoning abilities of our models. Therefore, to minimise these challenges, we have implemented state-of-the-art techniques derived from recent research. These include preventionand mitigation mechanisms like “chain-of-verification” and “counterfactual reasoning”, which are integrated into our models. Human oversight and accountability We believe human oversight is key to the successful development and deployment of a useful and reliable AI-powered solution. We maintain human oversight of the development of our AI tools and their output from design to deployment to ensure reliability and quality. We routinely conduct evaluation benchmarks on our models toassess their tendency to reproduce falsehoods and biases, as well as to measure their accuracy. This ongoing evaluation process enables us to continually enhance and refine our models.