What a DOI is and where to find it
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent ID for a publication, for example 10.1037/ppm0000185. It always starts with 10., followed by a publisher prefix, a slash and a suffix. You usually find it on the first page of a journal article, on the article's web page, or in a database record. It may appear as a link such as https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185.
Paste it in any of these forms: the bare DOI, the doi.org link, or with a doi: prefix. The generator recognises all of them.
How the DOI lookup works
Your browser asks the Crossref REST API for the DOI's record. Crossref holds metadata for most journal articles, book chapters and conference papers. If Crossref has no record, is busy or cannot be reached, the generator asks doi.org for the same record in CSL-JSON, which also covers DataCite DOIs used for datasets and repositories such as Zenodo, and mEDRA DOIs. Each DOI is looked up once per page visit.
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
In-text citation: (Grady et al., 2019)
How styles print a DOI
| Style | DOI format in the reference |
|---|---|
| APA 7 | https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx as a link at the end |
| MLA 9 | https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx as the location, followed by a full stop |
| Chicago | https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx at the end |
| IEEE | doi: 10.xxxx/xxxx |
| AMA 11 | doi:10.xxxx/xxxx with no space and no full stop |
You do not need to rewrite the DOI yourself. Choose the style and the generator prints it the way that style asks for.
When a DOI lookup fails
- Not found: check for a missing character or a trailing full stop copied from a sentence.
- Incomplete: a DOI needs a prefix, a slash and a suffix; the generator tells you if part is missing.
- Rate limited or offline: wait a moment and try again, or fill in the manual form.
Registry data is supplied by publishers and is sometimes incomplete: capitalised titles, missing issue numbers, or the online date instead of the issue date. Always check the preview against the article before adding it. For books, use the ISBN citation generator; for everything else, the main citation generator.
Citing many DOIs in one session
Keep the tool open while you read. Each time you find a paper you will cite, paste its DOI, check the preview, and add it. The list grows under the tool and survives a reload. At the end, switch the style if needed and export the whole list as .ris or .bib, or copy it into your document in one go.
Lookups go straight from your browser to Crossref with a polite contact address, and each DOI is fetched once per visit. If you paste many DOIs very quickly, the registry may ask you to slow down; the generator tells you when that happens.
Preprints, datasets and software
Preprint servers and repositories such as Zenodo mint DOIs too. They resolve through doi.org, and the generator fills in what the repository reports. For a preprint, check whether a peer-reviewed version has since been published; if it has, cite that version unless you used the preprint for a reason.