Q. Can I obtain a DOI for research data that has not yet been published in ORDA?

If you need to provide a publisher with a DOI for supporting research data, you can ‘reserve’ a DOI for data deposited in ORDA but not yet published.

• In the draft ORDA record under ‘Item actions’, click on ‘Manage identifiers’. With ‘Reserve DOI’ selected, click on ‘Reserve’.

(To access and edit a draft record you have already created, go to the ‘My Data’ page and click on the ‘pencil’ to the right of the title.)

• You will then be offered a DOI that you can copy. This will only become active when the item has been published, but the reserved DOI may be used in data availability statements or citations in research papers awaiting publication, as it will not change once published. 

Some other repositories will also allow you to do this - check the specific guidance on the repository you are considering using.

You can find more information in our ORDA guidance. If you have any questions, email the Library’s Research Data Management team at rdm@sheffield.ac.uk