Transferring responsibility for titles and DOIs
We enforce a concept of ownership for the titles you register through us.
We allow members to freely register records for titles that do not yet exist in our system. Term 2c of our membership terms states:
Rights to Content. The Member will not deposit or register Metadata for any Content for which the Member does not have legal rights to do so.
This means that either the journal owner or their appointed publisher can register DOI records for a title.
When the first submission for that title is processed, a title record is added to our database. This title record ties the title to the prefix belonging to the member who was the first record registrant. The member who owns that prefix is then the only member allowed to create new DOIs for that title (or update the metadata on existing DOIs for that title).
If a title is acquired by a member with a different prefix, we have to move ownership of the title in our system from the original owner member (the “transferring member”) to the new owner member (the “receiving member”). We have two options here. The most common option is that we update the title record to associate the title with the receiving member’s prefix going forward. But if the receiving member has acquired all of the transferring members titles, we can also transfer the transferring members entire prefix over to the acquiring member.
On this page, find out more about:
Title ownership transfers
In a standard title ownership transfer, Member B acquires a single title from Member A. (In this example, we would call Member A the “transferring member”, and Member B is the “receiving member”).
We transfer title ownership in our system for this title from Member A’s prefix over to Member B’s prefix.
Member B can then register new content for that title on their own prefix going forward. But they also inherit control of all the existing DOI records for this title. In the future, Member B will show in the metadata of these existing DOI records as the publisher of this title, even though these DOIs are on the prefix belonging to Member A, and Member A was the one who initially registered these records.
This also means that Member B can update the metadata associated with any existing DOI records for this title - even if the DOIs are on Member A’s prefix. For example, Member B could update the resolution URLs for all existing DOI records for this title so they now resolve to Member B’s website rather than Member A’s website.
Member B should continue to display and use the existing DOIs and they SHOULD NOT register a new DOI for content that already has a DOI. Once a DOI has been registered for an item, that DOI needs to remain the persistent identifier for that item - forever. Registering new DOIs for content that already has DOIs contravenes clause 2 h 3 of the Crossref membership terms, and causes confusion and inaccuracies for the organizations and individuals using Crossref metadata.
Here’s an example of how this works. Let’s say that DOI 10.1234/abcd is for an article in a title that’s acquired by a new member. The new members prefix is 10.5678, and so ownership for that whole title is assigned to prefix 10.5678.
This means that the existing DOI for that article will continue to be 10.1234/abcd. The difference is that the member responsible for prefix 10.5678 is also able to update the metadata record for 10.1234/abcd. For example, they may need to update the resolution URL to point at their website.
This process means that backfile DOIs and current DOIs for articles in the same journal may have different prefixes — and that’s OK!
Learn more about what can often change, but always stays the same?
Unusual ownership title transfers - transferring a title without taking responsibility for existing DOIs
Typically, when a title is acquired by a member, all existing content is also acquired. We move the title itself, AND ownership of all existing DOI records for that title to the receiving member in our system.
However, we can also assign ownership to individual records within a title. This is sometimes necessary when content ownership or hosting responsibility is assigned to different chunks of content for the same title.
For example, current issues of Journal A may be published by a member with prefix 10.1234. Issues of Journal A published prior to 2010 are hosted and maintained by a member with prefix 10.5678. Journal A is owned by prefix 10.1234, but the member with prefix 10.5678 retains control of the back issue DOIs owned by prefix 10.5678.
How to request a title ownership transfer
There are several steps to a title transfer.
Step 1. Transferring and receiving publisher confirm that all published DOIs have definitely been registered with Crossref and agree financial arrangement for registration of DOIs.
Prior to the transfer, it’s important to make sure that any DOIs that have been displayed publicly on the transferring publisher’s prefix have definitely been successfully registered with Crossref. Once a DOI has been publicly displayed, it may have already been used by an author to cite this work, so it’s vital that it gets registered with Crossref. It will be very complicated to get a new DOI registered on the transferring member’s prefix after we’ve moved ownership of the title to a different member prefix, so make sure everything has been successfully registered with us before you start the title transfer process.
Step 2. Transferring or receiving publisher contacts us to request a title ownership transfer.
We need to receive a title transfer notification to confirm that the current owners of this title in our system are happy with the ownership transfer. There are several different ways to do this:
- Option A (preferred): If a title transfer has been posted to the Enhanced Transfer Alerting Service (TAS), simply let us know and we’ll proceed with the transfer without further confirmation.
- Option B: If you don’t participate in TAS, please send us confirmation that the transferring publisher is aware of and agrees with the title ownership transfer in the Crossref system. The confirmation may be a forwarded email from the transferring publisher to the receiving publisher acknowledging the transfer. The forwarded email must contain the original sender details.
- Option C: Alternatively, if there is an announcement about the title ownership change on the website of the transferring publisher, that works too. We would identify the transferring publisher website by looking at the resolution URL for the existing DOIs
Whichever option you use, please be specific about what is being transferred - include ISSNs, ISBNs, and when you need the transfer to occur (if applicable). Do be specific about which prefix the title is being transferred to, as some publishers have more than one prefix. By default we will transfer both the title record and all associated DOIs to the receiving publisher. Please let us know if you need a different arrangement - for example, if the receiving publisher is not taking on responsibility for backfile content, so just needs the ability to register DOIs for future content on their own prefix, but doesn’t want to take on responsibility for existing DOIs.
(NB: We used to allow transferring publishers to transfer titles themselves through the Metadata Manager tool, but this service has been deprecated).
Step 3. We update the title record in our system and confirm when this is complete.
We will update the title record in our system to associate the title with the receiving publisher’s prefix going forward. This means that the receiving publisher will be able to register new DOIs on their own prefix in the future.
After the transfer is complete, it’s extremely important that the receiving publisher doesn’t register new DOIs for content that already has an existing DOI registered by the transferring publisher. Once a DOI has been registered for an item, that DOI needs to remain the persistent identifier for that item - forever. Registering new DOIs for content that already has DOIs contravenes clause 2 h 3 of the Crossref membership terms. The receiving publisher should continue to display and use the existing DOIs, despite the fact that they aren’t on their prefix. The receiving publisher will now be able to update all the metadata associated with these existing DOIs, even though they aren’t on their prefix.
We will provide the receiving publisher with a link to all the DOIs that have been previously registered for this title.
Step 4. Receiving publisher updates the metadata on existing DOIs as required
After the title ownership transfer in our system, the receiving publisher will be able to update metadata records for the existing DOIs for this title on the transferring publisher prefix, and create new DOI records on their own prefix for future published content.
As the receiving publisher, you should review the full metadata records provided by the transferring publisher, and remove or update any member-specific metadata such as text and data mining license and full-text URLs, Similarity Check full-text URLs, or Crossmark data. If the metadata supplied by the previous member is complete and accurate, you’ll only need to update the resolution URLs to ensure that the DOIs resolve to your website going forward.
Learn more about our top tips for a pain-free title transfer.
Title ownership dispute resolution
Only one member can register DOIs for a title at any one time. Very rarely, title ownership may come into dispute when two members claim ownership of a single publication. You can find out title ownership dispute resolution process here.
Prefix ownership transfers
In a prefix transfer, Member D acquires Member C and all their titles. We move the entire prefix belonging to Member C (and all relevant reports) over to Member D. Member D can then continue to assign DOIs on Member C’s old prefix (the original prefix). If Member D uses a service provider to deposit metadata on their behalf, we will simply enable the service provider’s account credentials to work with the newly acquired prefix.
Requesting a prefix ownership transfer
DOI prefixes may be moved from one member to another with the consent of the current prefix owner. This may happen as part of a merger or acquisition. Prefixes may also be moved from one DOI registration agency to another. Please contact us to start a prefix transfer.
Prefix permissions
If a prefix moves between members, note that the permissions associated with all DOIs currently owned by that prefix will transfer as well. This includes permissions related to Cited-by matches. You may transfer ownership of individual DOIs to a different prefix as needed.
