A DOI is a unique, persistent identifier assigned by publications to articles or other digital objects published and existing in some form online.
The DOI ecosystem is managed by different entities known as DOI Registration Agencies. The Law Library has subscribed with Crossref, one of the largest Registration Agencies in the world.
Why do we want to use DOI?
The DOI is a widely used information standard in publishing.
DOIs included in citations get captured by platforms tracking downloads and citations. Without DOI, it is much more difficult for software programs and humans to capture all information available about a specific digital object.
DOIs allow for authors to import metadata about each object with the click of a button (as opposed to manually entering this information into different platforms each time).
DOIs prevent link rot. A DOI serves as an identifier and a URL. A DOI Registration Agency holds the information that links a specific DOI to a specific URL. If that URL ever dies, we can update the URL without having to change the DOI. This enables print publications to link to scholarship without worrying about that link dying after a few years. (Note this is different from Perma.CC, which copies many online resources as they appear at a specific time).
Does each article get a unique DOI?
Yes. Every DOI must be unique, and each article in an issue should be assigned a distinct DOI.
Where do we put the DOI?
The DOI string for an article should be included on the first page of the article. It can be included on each page. If you provide a recommended citation, the DOI should be included as an “available at” clause.
Example: Author Name, Article Title, Vol. JournalName Page (Year), available at https://doi.org/DOI
How do we create and register DOI?
There are two stages when “minting” a new DOI: creating the DOI string, and registering that DOI string with an accompanying URL with CrossRef.
Each journal uses a DOI String Naming Convention that makes it easy to create DOIs for articles in new volumes and issues. Each journal puts the DOI string on the first page of the PDF near the author acknowledgments.
Once the articles are published online, the Law Library will register the DOIs with Crossref and pay for all associated fees.
What are the DOI String Naming Conventions for each journal?
The naming convention follows a simple pattern containing distinct parts (each one of the following is joined together to create the DOI string):
10.37419/ - the Texas A&M University School of Law publisher prefix assigned by Crossref.
LR. or JPL. - An abbreviation identify the journal.
V#. - The letter "V" + the volume number the article appears in ("V8" for Volume 8)
I#. - The letter "I" + the issue number the article appears in ("I8" for Issue 8)
# - The number of the article in the issue ("3" for the third article in the issue)
Law Review Example: 10.37419/LR.V8.I1.1
Journal of Property Law Example:10.37419/JPL.V7.I3.4
