If you’re doing research today, you know the drill: publish or perish. But the reality is that sharing your work doesn’t have to mean waiting months for a traditional journal to review and accept it.
Increasingly, researchers at every career stage are realizing that they can share valuable findings (including manuscripts, datasets, code, lab protocols, and even negative or null results) through trusted open repositories. And still obtain a DOI, making their work easier to cite, discover, and credit properly.
It’s one of the best-kept secrets in open science: you don’t need a prestigious journal to make your work part of the permanent scholarly record. Continue reading to discover how it works and why it matters.
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is more than just a web link. It's a widely used, unique reference for your research. While DOIs aren’t technically permanent (they rely on being properly maintained in the registry), they remain the de facto standard for citing and tracking scholarly work. DOIs help index your content in major open databases like Crossref, DataCite, and OpenAlex - the very systems universities and funders use to measure visibility and impact. That’s why they’re essential, even if not perfect.
When your work has a DOI:
Traditionally, only journals or publishers registered DOIs through agencies like Crossref or DataCite. Now, you can get one yourself by depositing your work in a reputable open repository or sharing it on a preprint server.
There are plenty of good reasons to take this step, and they’re becoming more compelling every year.
It’s faster.
Traditional peer review takes months, or even years. Open repositories can share your work immediately, allowing others to build upon it sooner. This accelerates scientific progress and increases the impact of your work.
It’s more accessible.
A significant amount of research is locked behind paywalls. By depositing your work in an open repository, you can let anyone read, reuse, and cite it, regardless of their workplace or subscription status.
It covers all kinds of outputs.
Not every research result fits into the neat box of a journal article. Maybe you have:
These all deserve to be part of your scholarly record, and a DOI allows that.
It aligns with funder and institutional policies.
Many funders now require that underlying data, methods, and code be made openly available. Depositing them with a DOI meets that requirement and demonstrates your commitment to transparency.
There are plenty of trusted ways to do it.
Most universities and research institutes have a library-managed digital archive, often connected to DataCite for minting DOIs. Examples include Harvard’s DASH, CaltechAUTHORS, or your own university’s open repository. If you’re unsure, ask your librarian or research office for assistance.
If your institution doesn’t have its own, or you want to reach a broader audience, you have other options:
If you’re sharing a manuscript, consider posting it to a reputable preprint server in your field. These platforms host early versions of research papers before peer review, giving your work faster visibility and opening the door to early feedback from the community.
Preprint servers are ideal for rapid dissemination, but they generally host manuscripts only - not datasets, code, or other research outputs.
Some newer platforms, like DeSci Publish, go beyond traditional repositories. They combine DOIs with decentralized, tamper-proof storage. DeSci Publish supports a wide range of research outputs, including manuscripts, datasets, and code. It also features AI capabilities, including novelty scores that indicate how novel your research is compared to existing work. You get built-in version control, stronger proof of authorship, and greater confidence that your work will stay accessible long-term.
Securing a DOI is step one. Clear, detailed metadata is what makes open research truly discoverable and citable. Researchers who take the time to maintain consistency in their name across publications and link their work to their ORCID make it much easier for others to find all their published work. A precise title and a well-written abstract help other scholars understand exactly what the work covers and how it might be reused. Well-chosen keywords also play a crucial role in enhancing how research appears in search results and indexing services.
An open license is just as crucial as the DOI itself. When research carries a clear license, for example, a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, it’s immediately clear to others how the material can be shared, adapted, or reused. Without that clarity, some potential users may avoid citing or building on the work out of uncertainty.
Often, a single research project produces multiple outputs: a dataset might accompany a manuscript, which could later be expanded into a peer-reviewed paper. Linking these related outputs together and updating records when new versions appear reveals the full research journey, making it easier for others to follow the thread.
Finally, even the most carefully documented work can be overlooked if no one knows it exists. Researchers who make their DOIs visible by adding them to CVs, institutional profiles, lab websites, ORCID records, grant applications, and even conference slides see greater uptake and reuse. Sharing DOIs within professional networks and collaborations helps ensure that the work reaches the right people.
Research credit shouldn’t hinge on a single journal’s timeline. Reliable, open repositories and persistent identifiers enable the sharing of work that’s easy to find, cite, and protect against loss or oversight.
Whether through an institutional archive, a trusted general repository like Zenodo or OSF, a preprint server or an emerging decentralized platform such as DeSci Publish, there are now more ways than ever to ensure that valuable contributions are part of a permanent record.
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