Digital object identifier

A Digital object identifier, or DOI name, is a unique label for a computer readable object (document, photograph, etc.) that can be found on the internet. The DOI name stays with the object, even if it is transferred to another owner and/or another internet site.

The structure of the DOI name is 10.xxxx/yyyy, where the prefix 10. indicates that a DOI name is following. The digital string xxxx indicates the agent that assigned the DOI name and put the object on the internet, the string yyyy is arbitrary, both of length and content, and can be chosen freely by the agent. A digital object can be retrieved from the internet by the URL dx.doi.org/10.xxxx/yyyy/.

For instance, the DOI^® Handbook is retrieved by http://dx.doi.org/10.1000/182. As another example, an (arbitrarily picked) article from Science Magazine is retrieved by http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.318.5856.1571.