What is a DOI, and why is it important in citations?

• A. DOI is a database of images.
• B. Digital Object Identifier uniquely identifies a digital document, enabling stable linking and precise citation.
• C. DOI is a measure of a journal's rating.
• D. DOI indicates the number of pages in an article.

Answer: (B)

A Digital Object Identifier is a unique, persistent identifier assigned to a digital document to make it easy to locate and cite accurately. The best reason this matters in citations is that a DOI stays with the document even if the website’s address changes. When you include the DOI in a citation, readers can reliably reach the exact item you referenced by following a standard link such as https://doi.org/10.xxxx/yyy, which resolves to the current location of the document. This promotes precision and longevity in scholarly work, helps readers verify sources, and supports consistent metadata across databases and citation styles.

Note that a DOI is not a database of images, a measure of a journal’s rating, or a count of pages. It’s a stable identifier that uniquely references a digital document, enabling stable linking and precise citation.