How to Set Up DOIs and Crossref in OJS

What a DOI is and why your OJS journal needs one

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent identifier for a piece of scholarly content, for example 10.12345/abcd1234. The part before the slash is the prefix, assigned to your organisation by a registration agency. The part after it is the suffix, which OJS generates or you choose. Anyone can turn a DOI into a link by adding https://doi.org/ in front. The DOI system then forwards the reader to the article's current address.

This matters because URLs break. Journals move domains, switch to HTTPS and change platforms. A DOI keeps working as long as the publisher updates the registered URL. That is why authors want DOIs on their articles, reference managers and citation databases rely on them, and readers trust journals that have them.

For scholarly journals, the main DOI registration agency is Crossref. OJS can also work with DataCite and mEDRA through plugins, but this guide focuses on Crossref because that is what most journals use. Setting up DOI registration in OJS has two halves: membership and a prefix outside OJS, and configuration inside OJS.

Getting a DOI prefix from Crossref

DOIs are registered by your publishing organisation (a university, society, institute or publisher), not by an individual journal. One prefix can be used for all the journals that organisation publishes. There are two routes:

Sponsored members have the same obligations as direct members: deposit accurate metadata, keep it up to date, display DOIs as links and link their references (more on this under best practices). Before applying, make sure the journal website is live, with its scope, editorial board and policies published. If you are still at that stage, follow our guide to starting an academic journal first.

Before you configure DOIs in OJS

Crossref deposits are built from your OJS metadata, so gaps here cause most failed deposits later. Check these first:

• Publisher and ISSN are filled in under Settings → Journal → Masthead. OJS's Crossref plugin refuses to deposit without them. ISSNs are assigned by your national ISSN centre (see issn.org).
• Article metadata is complete: title, every author's given and family name, publication date, and the issue's volume, number and year. If you use page numbers, enter them as a proper range such as 45-58.
• References are collected in a separate field if you want to deposit them, which is enabled in the submission metadata settings.
• Scheduled tasks run. Automatic deposits happen on a schedule, so if cron or the built-in task runner isn't working, nothing is deposited. See fixing OJS scheduled tasks.
• You have decided what gets DOIs. Articles are essential. Issues are optional. DOIs for individual galleys (PDF, HTML) are rarely needed and complicate things.

DOI settings in OJS 3.4 and 3.5

From OJS 3.4, DOI management is a core feature, and the old DOI plugin is no longer needed. As journal manager, go to Settings → Distribution → DOIs and complete the Setup section:

1. DOIs

   Tick the option that allows DOIs to be assigned to work published in this journal. This also adds a DOIs item to the left-hand menu.

2. Items with DOIs

   Select Articles. Add Issues only if you want issue-level DOIs.

3. DOI Prefix

   Enter the prefix you received, for example 10.12345, without a trailing slash.

4. Automatic DOI Assignment

   Choose whether OJS assigns DOIs when a submission reaches the copyediting stage, upon publication, or never. Assigning at copyediting lets the DOI be printed in the PDF.

5. DOI Format

   Keep Default unless you have a specific reason not to. OJS then generates a short, opaque eight-character suffix with a built-in check digit. The alternatives are entering each suffix manually or a custom pattern, which PKP doesn't recommend.

Save the section. Menu labels can vary slightly between point releases; PKP's Learning OJS documentation has screenshots for 3.5.

Connect the Crossref plugin in OJS 3.4 and 3.5

1. Enable the Crossref Manager Plugin

   Go to Settings → Website → Plugins → Installed Plugins and enable the Crossref Manager Plugin. If it isn't listed, install it from the Plugin Gallery.

2. Choose Crossref as the registration agency

   Back in Settings → Distribution → DOIs, open the Registration section and select Crossref.

3. Enter the deposit details

   Depositor name (the organisation registering the DOIs) and Depositor email (Crossref sends deposit confirmations here). Then add your Crossref username and password. For a shared organisational account, use those credentials. For a personal Crossref account, enter your email address and role in the username field, in the form name@example.org/role.

4. Automatic deposit and test mode

   Tick Enable automatic depositing once your first manual deposit has worked. Leave the Crossref test mode option off on a live journal. It sends deposits to Crossref's testing environment instead of registering real DOIs.

Assign and deposit DOIs in OJS 3.4 and 3.5

Everything else happens on the DOIs page in the left menu, which has tabs for articles and, if enabled, issues.

1. Assign DOIs

   Use the Needs DOI filter, tick the articles, then choose Bulk Actions → Assign DOIs. This also works for back issues published before you had a prefix.

2. Deposit DOIs

   Filter by Unregistered, select items and choose Bulk Actions → Deposit DOIs, or use Deposit All.

3. Follow the status

   Submitted means sent but not yet confirmed. Registered means the DOI is live. Has Error means Crossref rejected the deposit, usually because of metadata. Needs Sync means the metadata changed and should be deposited again.

Changes to titles, authors or galleys are not sent to Crossref automatically. After a correction, deposit the item again, or use Mark Submission DOIs needs sync so it is picked up.

DOI setup in OJS 3.3: DOI plugin and Crossref plugin

OJS 3.3 (and 3.1/3.2) uses two plugins: the DOI public identifier plugin creates DOIs, and the Crossref XML Export plugin registers them.

1. Enable the DOI plugin

   Go to Settings → Website → Plugins → Installed Plugins → Public Identifier Plugins, enable DOI, then open its Settings.

2. Configure it

   Under journal content, tick Articles (issues optional). Enter your DOI Prefix. For the suffix, choose the default patterns unless you have a good reason not to. Save.

3. Enable the Crossref XML Export plugin

   In the same plugin list, under Import/Export Plugins, enable it. Then go to Tools → Import/Export → Crossref XML Export Plugin. Enter the depositor name and email, your Crossref username and password, and decide on automatic deposit. Leave test mode off.

4. Assign DOIs

   For each article, open Publication → Identifiers, click Assign, then Save. Do this after scheduling the article in an issue if your suffix includes volume or issue numbers. For an already-published article, PKP's documentation says to unpublish it, assign and save the DOI, then publish again. Some 3.x versions also offer an Assign DOIs button in the DOI plugin settings for back content.

5. Deposit

   In the Crossref plugin, open the Articles tab, tick the articles and click Deposit. Alternatively, export the XML and upload it in Crossref's own admin tool. The status column shows Not deposited, Active or Failed.

PKP's Crossref OJS Manual covers the 3.3 screens in more detail. If you are still on 3.3, upgrading to 3.5 brings the central DOI management page described above.

Choosing a DOI suffix pattern

The suffix is the decision you can't undo, so keep it simple:

• Use the default. In 3.4/3.5 that is the opaque eight-character code. In 3.3 the default pattern combines journal initials, volume, issue and article ID, for example jmr.v5i2.123. Both are unique and need no manual work.
• Avoid meaning in the suffix. Crossref's guidance on constructing DOIs recommends opaque suffixes. Information like the year or title belongs in the metadata, where it can be corrected.
• Custom patterns are your responsibility. In 3.3, patterns use codes such as %j (journal initials), %v (volume), %i (issue number) and %a (article ID). If you share one prefix across several journals, or give DOIs to both issues and articles, the pattern must make every DOI unique.
• Never switch patterns casually. Changing a pattern does not change DOIs already assigned. It only affects new ones, and a careless change can produce duplicates. Never use a "reassign DOIs" function on content whose DOIs are registered.

Test your first Crossref deposit

1. Start with one article

   Keep automatic deposit off. Assign a DOI to one published article and deposit it manually.

2. Read the result

   Wait for Registered (3.4/3.5) or Active (3.3). Crossref also emails a submission log to the depositor email. Check it for warnings, even on success.

3. Resolve the DOI

   Open https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI in a private browser window. It should land on the article's abstract page, not the homepage or a PDF.

4. Then scale up

   Deposit the rest of the issue, then back issues, and finally turn on automatic deposit.

Fixing failed DOI deposits in OJS

If a DOI was registered earlier on another platform with different metadata or URL, contact Crossref support before depositing over it. Stuck with an error you can't decode? Our OJS technical support team regularly fixes failed Crossref deposits.

DOI best practices for OJS journals

• Never change a registered DOI. Correct the metadata and deposit again instead. Retracted or corrected articles keep their DOI.
• Landing page = article page. DOIs should resolve to the article's abstract (landing) page, which OJS does by default. Keep that page online permanently.
• Display DOIs as full links, for example https://doi.org/10.12345/abcd1234, as Crossref's display guidelines require. Check that your theme shows them on article pages.
• Link your references. Crossref members are expected to include DOIs in their reference lists where they exist. Collect references in a separate field and deposit them. In OJS 3.3 the Crossref Reference Linking plugin can add found DOIs back to reference lists.
• Keep metadata current. Deposit again after corrections, author name changes, new galleys or a domain move.
• Arrange long-term preservation. Crossref asks members to make efforts to archive their content. The PKP Preservation Network plugin is a common choice for OJS journals. See our list of essential OJS plugins.

Getting DOIs right from the first issue saves a great deal of clean-up later. OJS Academy can configure DOIs and the Crossref plugin, complete your journal and article metadata, test deposits and register back issues, as part of our OJS setup services. For a single failing deposit or plugin problem, OJS technical support is the quickest route.

Frequently Asked Questions