Reference linking with DOIs: A case study

DOI-X is a prototype metadata database designed to support DOI lookups. The prototype is intended to address the integration of metadata registration and maintenance with basic DOI registration and maintenance, enabling publishers to use a single mechanism and a single quality-assurance process to register both DOIs and their associated metadata. It also contains the lookup mechanisms necessary to access the journal article metadata, both on a single-item lookup basis and on a batch basis, such as would facilitate reference linking. The prototype database was introduced and demonstrated to attendees at the STM International Meeting and the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 1999. This paper discusses the background for the creation of DOI-X and its salient features.