DataCite

DataCite is an international not-for-profit organization that provides digital object identifiers (DOIs) for research data and other research outputs. Its mission is to improve the ways data are found, cited, and reused by researchers and institutions. DataCite operates a global network of member organizations that mint DOIs and publish metadata for datasets, software, publications, and other research objects.

A key offering is the DataCite DOI service, which assigns persistent identifiers to data resources and links to machine-readable metadata. The DataCite Metadata Schema defines the standard fields used to describe data resources, including titles, creators, publication year, publisher, resource type, rights, and related identifiers. The schema supports interoperability with other metadata standards and is widely adopted by data repositories and publishers.

DataCite promotes data citation practices and supports FAIR data principles by enabling discoverable, accessible, and reusable data. It maintains indexes of DataCite metadata and provides guidance, training resources, and policy statements to help researchers, repositories, and funders. The organization also hosts community events, including the annual DataCite Global Forum, to share best practices and coordinate on data citation and reuse initiatives.