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Research data management

Research data management (RDM) refers to the administration of data throughout a research project, including requirements on preservation and sharing after the project ends.

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

What is a DOI?

A DOI is intended to be a persistent, unique identifier for digital objects such as journal articles or datasets, to enable the item to be found and cited. The DOI system is managed by the International DOI Foundation. DOIs can be incorporated into URLs so that users can always access the digital content, even if it has moved online location. Publishers use DOIs to identify articles, e.g., the DOI 10.3390/met11010050 corresponds to the article:
Shittu AA, Kolios A, Mehmanparast A. “A Systematic Review of Structural Reliability Methods for Deformation and Fatigue Analysis of Offshore Jacket Structures”. Metals. 2021; 11(1):50.

Permission for an institution such as Cranfield University to ‘mint’ and assign DOIs must be approved by a DOI Registration Agency.

Where do I find them?

“The DOI system does not provide a central search capability across all DOI names, but most web search engines will show DOI names in the results of a search by title, by name, or by topic or related terms.” – (from http://www.doi.org/faq.html). It is also possible to use services such as DataCite to search for the DOI of a specific article or dataset. Similarly, DOIs can be found in the “URI” field of the Bibliographic Details of records in CERES, and will usually be listed in an article’s metadata on publishers’ websites.

What is the advantage of having a DOI?

Giving your data or article a DOI:

  • means that usage of your data/article can be followed as others use and cite it.
  • makes the data/article uniquely identifiable.
  • means you will always be identified as the creator of the cited data/article.
  • means your data/article can always be located with a simple web search.

How do I get one?

Datasets deposited in CORD will automatically be assigned a DOI once approved after submission. DOIs cannot be assigned to datasets stored in repositories not controlled by Cranfield University. Researchers who require a persistent and unique identifier for their data, should carefully consider whether their chosen repository can provide this functionality.

For journal articles, DOIs are normally created at the point of publication by a DOI Registration Agency such as CrossRef. Cranfield University does not, as a matter of routine, assign DOIs to articles.

CORD is not just for data, but can be used for publishing white papers, reports, conference outputs, and more. For more information about what can be deposited in CORD please email: researchsupport@cranfield.ac.uk.