Education and knowledge

DOI Foundation

DOI system documentation, reference handbook and agency information for understanding persistent identifiers.

An open book and notebook in a library — AI-generated contextual illustration · Fictional scene, not a photograph of this organization’s premises or services.

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Documented resource details

Separate the system, agency and identified object

The DOI Foundation governs the DOI system with registration agencies. The handbook explains these persistent identifiers. To retrieve an object’s metadata, identify its agency and record rather than searching only for a publisher name.

System: Shared framework for identification and resolution.
Agency: Services and registries for a community.
Object: The document or other object named by the identifier.
Reference handbook: DOI 10.1000/182 identifies the current handbook. Its landing page distinguishes the HTML edition and PDF version of record.

Does a valid DOI confirm the document’s conclusions?

No. Check content, version and publication status before drawing a conclusion.

Official documentation

Documentation consulted on 2026-10-09.

Practical methods for this resource

Check a DOI against its referenceMatch identifier, title, authors, object type and version before reusing a bibliographic reference.

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