Nine easy steps to improve the quality of CrossRef's metadata and enhance our ability to optimize services:

1) Deposit article titles
2) Deposit all author names, not just the first author
3) Verify journal, book, and conference titles
4) Forward Linking publishers should deposit *all* references, including self-citations
5) Deposit "as crawled" URLs for Google (see details below)
6) Deposit DOIs for supporting material, known as components
7) Deposit metadata and DOIs for all digitized backfile content
8) Check the Title List - http://www.crossref.org/titleList/
9) Check the Failed Query Report - http://www.crossref.org/06members/failed_query.html

In order for CrossRef to optimize its citation linking capabilities and reliably provide a growing range of related services on behalf of its members, CrossRef needs to improve the overall quality and completeness of its metadata. A variety of data quality improvements are underway, but the most important factor remains the data deposited by member publishers. Below are new high-priority metadata guidelines:

- Author names and article titles. Although the CrossRef deposit schema specifies that some bibliographic metadata is optional for DOI registration purposes, we strongly encourage members to register comprehensive metadata for each DOI deposited. In addition to currently mandatory elements, please include article title and given names and surnames of all authors for all articles.

- Journal title. Always verify the accuracy and completeness of journal title, volume, issue and page numbers prior to CrossRef registration. The depositor report at http://www.crossref.org/06members/51depositor.html now links to publisher-specific Missing Metadata Reports that pinpoint where your deposits have been lacking requested metadata.

- References. For those publishers participating in Forward Linking, as well as those who would like CrossRef to provide their metadata to third parties such as search engines, you must supply complete references lists to CrossRef. There are two ways to do this (see http://www.crossref.org/02publishers/forward_linking_howto.html), either within a metadata deposit or as a reference-only deposit. References lists should be complete: do not omit references that point to your own publications.

- As-crawled URL. In its metadata proposal to publishers, Google is requesting that you provide "As-Crawled URLs" -- that is, the URL Google actually crawls to index your full text. The CrossRef system now supports registration of the as-crawled URL, utilizing the <collection> element of the existing schema. For more information, please go to:
http://www.crossref.org/02publishers/how_to_faq.html#Anchor-Depositin-38253.

- Gaps in CrossRef coverage of your online content: Although CrossRef does not require registration of backfile content, in order for us to improve our query matching rate and serve as a metadata delivery platform on your behalf, all of your digital content should be registered, including backfiles. Please use CrossRef's browseable title list
http://www.crossref.org/titleList and failed query report http://www.crossref.org/06members/failed_query.html for detailed information about gaps in coverage of your specific titles.

- Components. Supplemental or supporting information for a journal article, book chapter, or conference paper may be included as components. Components include figures, tables, images, video, audio and other data formats. Review sample XML for a journal deposit including components or the current schema documentation (4.1.0) for details.