Q. What is a DOI? Why should I get a DOI for my dataset?

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a persistent unique identifier widely used for journal articles and datasets. Similar to how passport number can be used to identify a person, a DOI is used to uniquely identify a paper or dataset.

You should get a DOI for your dataset using SMU RDR because:

• DOIs offers a stable and persistent link to your dataset over the long run
• DOIs more reliable compared to URLs which easily become broken links
• DOIs allow citations to your data to be tracked to demonstrate impact

All published datasets in RDR will automatically receive a DOI from DataCite. For unpublished records, you may reserve a DOI which will become activated upon publishing the record.