Digital Object Identifiers (DOI)

Newer NIST Technical Series Publications are assigned persistent, unique identifiers called Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), which are typically used with scholarly articles, books, data sets, and other publications. A DOI is a persistent link that will automatically redirect the user to the current registered location for a digital object, and NIST publications with DOIs (dx.doi.org) will redirect users to another NIST website.

The "10.6028" DOI prefix is assigned to NIST (as a publisher), which maintains the link between a DOI and the current location for the referenced file.  If the publisher has to move the physical location of a file (e.g., rename the file or move it to a new server), users will be able to consistently connect to that file by referring to the DOI, regardless of the actual file location. NIST registers and maintains its DOIs with CrossRef.

DOIs are commonly used to cite electronic information sources such as journal articles and other scholarly literature found in databases like PubMed, IEEExplore, and Google Scholar. The use of DOIs is also explained in style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style and the IEEE Computer Society Style Guide.

For more DOI information, see:

• Wikipedia
• DOI and CrossRef FastFacts
• Chicago Manual of Style
• IEEE Computer Society Style Guide