Request a DOI for your work

• The work must be affiliated with the University, either through creation by a member of our academic community or created via an affiliated project or centre.
• A copy of the output must be deposited in the Edinburgh Research Archive. The work can also be published on a different University website, but the Library requires a version to be deposited in ERA.  
• The work must not already have been assigned a DOI, or be eligible for a DOI via another service. For example:
  • If you are publishing your work through a publisher, then the publisher may assign a DOI.
  • Research data must be deposited with Edinburgh DataShare and will be assigned a DOI as part of that service.

We would recommend that you assign DOIs to any text-based object that you would like to have a stable web address to enable citation, and usage tracking via services like Altmetrics. Types of document could include, but are not limited to:

• Project reports
• Briefing papers
• Handbooks
• Conference contributions (e.g. posters or slides)
• Case Studies

We are currently offering mediated deposit for DOIs

Please send a PDF to openaccess@ed.ac.uk with the following information:

1. Title of the work
2. Name of authors
3. Date of publication
4. Abstract or summary of the work
5. Some descriptive keywords
6. Name of School, Department or Unit that the output is affiliated with so we can pick the correct collection

The Scholarly Communications Team check all submitted items and we aim to have a turnaround of 24 hours. If you need something quickly please get in touch with us and we can help.

When your item is approved, an automatic email will be sent to you by the system with details of the ERA web address. The DOI is not generated immediately as the system has to register the item with the DataCite agency.

We have an hourly automated process where ERA submits the data for DOI registration. The persistent identifier (DOI) will be issued at the top of the next hour after approval. You can check on the item page to see if this has happened.