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Recommendations for journals

Patricia Feeney — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Our metadata is used for both discovery and display - your metadata should include all available citation metadata plus any funding, license, etc. data you are able to provide.

Metadata specifics:

Include all authors associated with an article in your metadata, along with each author’s ORCID and affiliation information.
Authors should be supplied in the correct order: the first author should be flagged as ‘first’, and additional authors flagged as ‘additional’. Also, although we don’t currently support numbered order for author names, the sequence in which an author is included in a deposit is the sequence the name will appear in displays using our metadata.
If an organization is considered the author of a document, the organization name should be included as a contributor in the aptly named element.
Journal article deposits should include JATS-formatted abstracts.
Include page and/or article numbers
Include month and day as well as year in publication dates
Make sure special characters are UTF-8 encoded
Make sure your page, issue, and volume numbers don’t include extra dashes
Deposit references for your journal articles, and allow your references to be distributed.
Deposit title-level DOIs for journals deposited with Crossref. COUNTER requires title-level DOIs, and they (combined with an ISSN) make your journal easier to identify.
Your journal title and ISSN should be consistent across deposits

Journal titles

You should assign a title-level identifier to your journal.
A distinct identifier should be created for each version of a title deposited with Crossref.
Any changes requiring a new ISSN should result in a new title-level identifier as well.
A title-level identifier should resolve to a page that displays the same title and ISSN (when available) recorded in your metadata.

Good behavior:

You should only create one record/identifier per item. If content changes hands, the record and identifier(s) should move to the new owner as well.
Publication title ownership is enforced. If you have recently acquired a title from another Crossref member, make sure we know about by following our title transfer procedures.

Recommended journal metadata

Patricia Feeney — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Metadata elements you need or should consider

Must have

You won’t be able to make a deposit without these pieces of metadata.

Journal title: the full title of the journal
ISSN: all ISSN assigned to the journal. If an ISSN is not available, you must supply a journal title DOI.
Article title: title of the article being deposited
Publication date: year of publication, month and day are optional but strongly recommended if you publish them

Should have

These elements are optional to accommodate differences in publication practices (not all articles have page numbers, for example) but they are essential to describing your content, and must be included in Crossref deposits if you want your metadata to be effective.

Issue number: issue number or descriptor (1, 2, spring, fall)
Volume number: journal volume number
Contributors: all authors of an article, including organizations that have authored an item.
Given name: the first name of an author
Surname: the family name of an author, also used for authors with a single name
ORCID: the ORCID iD assigned to an author
Affiliation: an author’s affiliation
Suffix: the suffix of an author (e.g. Jr., Sr., III)
Page numbers: page numbers are essential for identifying an article
Article numbers: if a work does not have ‘pages’ an article number should be deposited
Journal abbreviation: common abbreviation of the journal title (you can include multiple abbreviations if you have them)
Coden: not used for all journals but if you have it, please include it in your deposits
Abstracts: publishers using JATS may include their JATS-formatted abstracts in deposits
Supplemental materials: you can assign DOIs to supplemental materials as components
Reference lists: include lists of references in your deposits, you can (and should) opt to have them publicly distributed
Funding data: include funder names, identifiers and grant/award numbers in your deposits
License data: include license URLs and dates in your metadata
Crossmark: includes article status (current, withdrawn, errata info) as well as any custom metadata you want associated with your articles

Content Registration guide

Patricia Feeney — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The basic process for registering your content consists of these steps:

1. Construct your identifiers
When you join Crossref as a publisher member you are issued a DOI prefix. Crossref uses the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to provide persistence for our members’ metadata records. A DOI is a widely adapted identifier system that provides alpha-numeric identifiers that can be turned into a URL.

Your DOI prefix is unique to your organization, and allows you to create identifiers that are also unique to your organization. We give you your DOI prefix but you as the member must come up with a suffix pattern that works for your organization.

A DOI suffix follows the ‘/’ in a DOI. The specific pattern is up to you but we advise that you keep it consistent, short, and simple. Your DOI suffix can be any alphanumeric string. Limited punctuation is allowed, the approved character set for DOI suffixes is: “a-z”, “A-Z”, “0-9” and “-._;()/“. In the examples below, the Crossref-issued DOI prefix is 10.5555, everything after the ‘/’ is the DOI suffix:

DOI	suffix note
10.5555/1.125173	Sequential numbers
10.5555/cm960127g	Internal identifier
10.5555/S0002-9939-00-05422-8	Persistent identifier (PII)
10.5555/PhysRevLett.88.088302	title abbreviation, volume, and article # separated by ‘.’
10.5555/0091-7613(2001)	journal volume DOI - ISSN and publication year
10.5555/9783161484100.2	ISBN and chapter number

2. Create your registration XML
Everything submitted to the Crossref system is Crossref-formatted XML. Many members generate their own XML using our deposit schema (or have a vendor do it for them) but we do have a deposit form if you aren’t able to generate XML. We also have a NLM/JATS conversion if you are already publishing in JATS.

3. Upload your XML
Your XML can be uploaded manually using our system interface but it’s usually submitted via HTTP POST. If you are using the web form, the form uploads your registration files for you. Submissions are usually processed quickly so schedule your submissions accordingly.

4. Verify
All XML submitted to us must be valid to be processed, and we do some additional checking to make sure your submissions meet our standards. It’s important to address errors quickly to ensure your published links work and your metadata gets where it needs to go. You should review your submission logs to make sure your submissions are processed successfully. Submission logs are emailed to the address you include in your registration XML or enter in the web form.

5. Maintain your records
If your content moves, update your URLs. If you need to make minor corrections to your metadata, you can do that too. You can also add other metadata if you want to collect and distribute funding data, license information, and other metadata about your content.

Need more information? We have answers to Frequently Asked Questions or visit our Support Center to open a support ticket or review detailed technical documentation.

Similarity Check guide

Madeleine Watson — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

So, you’ve signed up for Similarity Check but need a little bit of help to get started? Well, you’ve come to just the right place. And if you can’t find the answers you need in the information below, we’re always here to help so please get in touch with our support team.

How to join

Are you a publisher member of Crossref? If yes, then please proceed! If you’re not one of our publisher members though, don’t be deterred as you can always take out your own subscription to iThenticate by contacting Turnitin.
Check that you are depositing article-level DOIs with us which include the full-text URL within the <iparadigms> field. Here’s an example of how to include this field in your DOI XML.

If you use our web form to deposit DOIs, make sure to select the ‘Add Similarity Check URL’ button and insert the URL for the full-text PDF, HTML or plain text content into the field provided.

You need to have full-text URLs in at least 90% of your journal content DOIs on application to join Similarity Check. Full technical instructions for how to add these links into your existing DOI metadata can be found on our help site.

If your full-text content is subscription-based, please ask your hosting provider to whitelist Turnitin’s full IP range.
Review the Terms & Conditions on our Similarity Check service page.
Review Turnitin’s Service Agreement and email a signed copy to crossref@turnitin.com.
Complete the online application form.

Together, Crossref and Turnitin will then review your documentation, co-sign your service agreement, and test your metadata to ensure full-text links are correctly included. As soon as this process is complete, Turnitin will send your nominated iThenticate admin user an account activation email. If you’re waiting for your activation email, please do keep an eye on your spam folder as sometimes emails from Turnitin can get caught in those filters.

Using iThenticate

If you are already a Similarity Check member, you can login to your iThenticate account.

For help using iThenticate, please refer to Turnitin’s Similarity Check User Manual or get in touch with Turnitin’s support team at ccsupport@ithenticate.com

Please contact our member services team with any questions or to get set up, or contact our support team for any technical or troubleshooting questions.

Crossmark guide

Kirsty Meddings — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

These are the steps publishers need to take to get started with Crossmark:

Drop an email to crossmark_info@crossref.org to let us know that you want to get started with Crossmark. Crossmark fees are activated when you start to deposit, and are USD $0.20 for current content, $0.02 for back file (older than two years).

2. Create a Crossmark Policy Page and assign it a DOI

Create a page on your website explaining that you are participating in the Crossmark service and have committed to maintaining version of record copies of content that display the Crossmark button. This page should be registered and have a DOI to enable persistent linking. It should explain your policies on corrections, retractions, withdrawals and other updates, and may contain definitions and explanations of any additional custom metadata fields that are being used. The page could also include links to other relevant policies such as author submission guidelines, peer review guidelines, etc.

3. Deposit Crossmark Metadata

Crossmark metadata should be deposited as part of your regular Crossref metadata deposit, but can also be deposited as stand-alone data for populating backfiles.

The minimum required Crossmark metadata comprises: - The DOI of the content the Crossmark is being applied to - The DOI for the publisher’s Crossmark Policy Page - The DOI of any piece of content that is being updated

4. Provide DOIs for items being corrected or updated**

“Updates” should only be deposited for changes that are likely to affect “the interpretation or crediting of the work.” In other words, updates should only be deposited for editorially significant changes. Updates should not be deposited for minor changes such as spelling corrections, formatting changes, etc.

There are 12 defined types of accepted “update” within Crossmark. The values for these are:

addendum
clarification
correction
corrigendum
erratum
expression_of_concern
new_edition
new_version
partial_retraction
removal
retraction
withdrawal

If an update does not fall into one of these categories it should instead be placed in the “more information” section of the pop-up box by being deposited as an assertion.

5. Record the DOI in HTML metadata

You should ensure that the DOI is embedded in the head of the HTML metadata for all content to which Crossmark buttons are being applied as follows:

<meta name=”dc.identifier” content=”doi:10.5555/12345678”/>

6. Apply the Crossmark button to your HTML pages

Crossref supplies a templated HTML/JavaScript code widget which will embed the Crossmark button and functionality into your web pages. The latest version of the widget (v2.0) is below. Do ensure you are using the latest version and that it points to our production server.

v2.0 is the current version. This update brings a responsive Crossmark box and new button designs. Please use the widget as specified below and do not alter the script or host the button locally.

<!-- Start Crossmark Snippet v2.0 -->

<script src="https://crossmark-cdn.crossref.org/widget/v2.0/widget.js"></script>
 <a data-target="crossmark"><img src="https://crossmark-cdn.crossref.org/widget/v2.0/logos/CROSSMARK_BW_horizontal.svg" width="150" /></a>

<!-- End Crossmark Snippet -->

Notes on previous versions:

v1.5 will be supported until March 2017. This implements HTTPS, and can be used both on HTTP and HTTPS sites. You should always access the widget files with HTTPS even if your site is HTTP.
v1.4 and lower are now deprecated. This and older versions of the widget will continue to work, but we recommend that you use the most recent version.

7. Apply the Crossmark button and metadata to your PDF content

Crossmark metadata needs to be added to your PDF content. Minimally, this metadata must include the DOI of the content and the optional Crossmark domain(s).

You may wish to use our open source tool called “pdfmark” for embedding metadata in PDF files.

We have also created “pdfstamp”, an open-source command line tool that makes it possible to add an image or “stamp” to any location on a PDF and to link that image to a chosen URL.

The link structure for Crossmark links from PDFs looks like this:

https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.5555/12345678&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2017-01-14

The domain argument tells the Crossmark system what kind of static content the link is coming from. This will change for different static formats (e.g. epub, etc.)

The date_stamp argument tells the Crossmark system the date on which a last “Major Version” of the PDF was generated. In the vast majority of the cases, this will just be the date on which the article was published. However, in cases where a publisher makes significant corrections to a PDF in-situ (they do not issue a separate correction or new version of the document with a new DOI) then the date_stamp should reflect when the PDF was regenerated with the corrections. The system will then use the date_stamp in order to tell whether the researcher needs to be alerted to updates or not. The date_stamp argument should be recorded in the form yyyy-mm-dd. (ISO 8601)

Multiple resolution

Patricia — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

There are a few steps involved in coordinating and implementing Multiple Resolution:

1. Establish permissions

You’ll need to let us know what organizations and content will be involved in your multiple resolution project and we’ll adjust permissions as needed.

If you are implementing multiple resolution without a secondary depositor or intend to supply the secondary URLs yourself, you can skip this step - you are by default enabled to register multiple resolution URLs for your own content.

Multiple resolution typically involves two (or more) members involved in a co-hosting agreement. For the purposes of multiple resolution, the primary depositor is the member responsible for the prefix of the multiple resolution content being registered. The secondary depositor has been authorized by the content owner to also host content and assign additional URLs (called ‘secondary URLs’) to DOIs. We’ll always defer to the primary depositor’s instructions regarding changes to a metadata record including all assigned URLs.

The primary depositor must notify us of the intention to implement multiple resolution for their metadata records, as well as all titles and/or prefixes involved. The secondary depositor may coordinate multiple resolution activity with permission from the primary depositor.

Primary depositors can create metadata records and deposit primary and secondary URLs. Secondary depositors may only register secondary URLs for existing records. The secondary depositor will be assigned a new system account to be used for multiple resolution deposits only.

2. Create an interim page template

When multiple URLs are registered for your content your links will resolve to an interim page. We host the page but encourage you to provide a custom template. If you do not provide a template your content will resolve to a plain but functional default page.

The template is an HTML page and operates on a simple text replacement process. The interim page supports the directives below (they can appear anywhere in the template HTML file):

<!–doi–> will be replaced by the DOI being resolved
<!–metadata–> will be replaced with metadata from the registered metadata record for the DOI. This data is presented as HTML table rows and data cells
<!–link–> will be replaced by the URL of one MR target (multiple uses of this directive will iterate through the available MR secondary targets)
<!–link-prime–> will be replaced by the primary URL which is the URL intially included in the metadata record (presumably the primary content owner’s URL)
<!–link label=“XYZ123”–> will be replaced by the URL of the multiple resolution target deposited with the specified label. Labels used in <!–link label=“XYZ123”–> must match the label supplied in secondary URL deposits.

Marked-up examples are available in our technical documentation. When your interim template is ready, send it to us and we’ll check it in. Be sure to include all image and .css files as well as your HTML template.

3. Unlock your DOIs

You must enable each metadata record for multiple resolution by sending us an ‘unlock’ flag for each DOI. This can be included in your content registration files or sent separately as a resource deposit. Examples and instructions are available in our technical documentation.

4. Register your secondary URLs

Secondary URLs are usually added to an existing metadata record using a resource deposit. The secondary URL registration file contains the DOI(s) being updated, the secondary URL, and a label. The label must correspond to the label provided in the interim page template - if the label values do not match, the URL won’t be pulled into the template. The label value is case-sensitive and must be a minimum of 6 characters (no spaces).

Examples and submission instructions are available in our technical documentation.

Need more information? Read our Multiple Resolution FAQ or contact our support team.