What is called the DOI, or Digital Object Identifiers, is a system that will allow you to identify all kinds of digital documents, to prove their authenticity, among other things. 

What is a DOI? Definition

We spoke earlier of a "system", it would be more of a trademark or an identity card in a way that would be specific to each digital document. 

The DOI acts like a license plate, as it is uniquely affixed to each document or more generally to each digital object. 

The content concerned is numerous, it can be videos, but also e-readers, digital notepads, or even books or articles. 

 

The challenges and objectives of the DOI

Even if it sometimes seems more complex, the regulations concerning digital objects remain very strict to this day. 

As such, an object can only correspond to a single DOI, to guarantee both its authenticity and security. 

The world of the net has become more complex with the appearance of digital books and articles, which can pose some problems, especially for the attribution of copyrights. However, the digital world is unquestionably part of the future, and it is important to ensure its reliability for today, but also for the years to come. 

In addition, another goal of the DOI is to be able to retrieve the content in question again and again, even years later. 

Especially in the academic field, it is often important to be able to cite the sources used accurately, to prove the authenticity of the content on the one hand, but also to respect the copyrights inherent in the digital content. 


Areas of use of the DOI at the dawn of 2025

Above, we have already given some examples of these areas of use. 

The latter are more and more numerous.

One of the most immediately important sectors is the university sector, where digital resources are often the most widely used. 

All works each have a DOI, which makes it easier to cite them in dissertations, theses or other academic documents, but it is also a way to find them more easily among all works on a given subject. 

It is not only at the university that DOIs are used, since we also find them in the publishing sector. More and more publishers are offering online publishing of their authors' works, which guarantees the security of copyrights; notions that are increasingly difficult to find their place in the current context, with the controversies over the use of artificial intelligence and plagiarism. 

Finally, more and more videos are now authenticated thanks to a DOI, in the educational or scientific field. 

 

In concrete terms, how does the DOI work? 

There are two main ways to use a DOI, as it is possible to either want to access a particular document or create one at a given time. 

To access content, you must enter the DOI on a dedicated page. 

To quote it, it must simply be included in the references of the text, so that the reader can easily access it.


The question is how to find the DOI of a document ?

There are several methods, which are effective and used depending on the field of activity.

The first is simply to search for the DOI directly on the document. The latter can be found in the bibliography, often listed either at the very beginning or completely at the end of the document. In the case of an article, this DOI can be found near the information about the publication or the information about the author himself. 

There are more and more books on the market in electronic version, the DOI is most often on the front page or on the cover itself. 

Today, there are more and more online libraries, and they have an obligation to highlight the DOI in the description of works. 

In addition, there are also specialized sites, such as DataCite or Google Scholar. They are widely used by researchers or in academic research. 

Thanks to elements such as the name of the author, the date of publication or the edition of a book or a digital document, it is possible to retrieve the DOI. 

In addition, it should be noted that each field of activity has its own databases, and these databases make it possible to find the DOI of a particular work or reference. 

Among these databases, a few names are to be mentioned, such as Project MUSE, which concerns sociology, or Wiley Online, which will deal with more scientific fields. 

URLs, links to specific sites or pages on the net, can also provide this type of information, for example we will find it in the form:

https://doi.org/ and then the rest of the link appears. This means that it is the DOI of the document in question.

Finally, another method is, depending on the sector of activity, to contact the author of the document or his publisher directly to obtain this information. 

However, the DOI does not only have advantages. Indeed, using this type of system is expensive, there are very few free alternatives, if at all. 

Also, like any system, it can give rise to operational problems, and in this case, the restoration can take time or even impact the DOIs. 

Finally, it should be noted that DOIs are mainly used in the fields of research and academia, apart from these two main uses, the system appears to be rather limited, especially since the whole thing is not always easy to use and understand for the uninitiated. 

 

Conclusion 

With the evolution of the digital world and the increasingly important place it takes in the lives of individuals and professionals, the DOI tends to play an important role in the world of publishing and in the academic field. 

This system makes it possible to guarantee a certain number of things, including authenticity, copyrights but also the traceability of all types of documents. 

Of course, there are disadvantages, such as costs and limited use, but the DOI will certainly have to evolve with the trends and expectations of a society that is itself constantly evolving. 

 

https://www.iirp.edu/images/pdf/What-is-a-DOI-060617.pdf

https://www.doi.org/the-identifier/resources/factsheets/doi-system-and-standard-identifier-schemes#:~:text=The%20ISO%20DOI%20specification%20(ISO,that%20another%20registry%20identifier%20exists.