Short for Digital Object Identifier, a standard for online content identification and linking based on URI and URN and governed by the International DOI Foundation. Digital content using the DOI system is given a unique alphanumeric character string that is used as an identifier. The identifier is comprised of a prefix and a suffix, separated by a forward slash. The prefix is assigned by the registering agency and identifies the specific organization, and the suffix is provided by the registrant to identify the unique content. The DOI also comes with metadata that describes the content. The DOI of an object is permanent so that the content can always be easily located if the URL of it changes (the user will be redirected to the new location). The technology was developed to protect the copyright of material published on the Internet, to compensate content creators for their work, and to keep track of content.
