If you need to find out the finer details of creating DataCite DOIs, test accounts are a great starting point.

Test is an independent system – a sandbox if you like – where you can see how assigning DOIs will fit into your systems and workflows. Although it is completely isolated from the live service, it replicates the experience almost exactly.

You will be able to test and assign DOIs as much as you need, but they will not be persistent. They will not resolve through the official doi.org resolver, and they may be periodically over-written. This means you should not use them on any publicly visible pages.

A test account is perfect for projects that would like to look at the process of assigning DOIs to their content, or for those looking at how DOIs would work with their repository – without any long-term commitment.

Setting up test accounts

Please email us to set up a test account and check that it will meet your needs. In order to set up the test system, we will need to know:

• the email and contact name of the person who will be using the account. Your password and any system emails will be sent to that address
• the domain(s) in which your URLs will be located (e.g. 'example.com'). You will only be able to assign test DOIs to the domains associated with your account – these can be updated or added to at any time.

When the account has been set up, you will be sent a link to create the password – then it’s ready to go!

Using test accounts

The test system will work in almost all respects exactly like the live DataCite service. But there are points you need to be aware of:

• DOIs created on the test server aren't persistent and so shouldn't be used publicly.
• As this is independent from the ‘live’ DataCite system, DOIs created in testing won't work using the 'doi.org' URL. But there is a specific test system URL that you can use to resolve test DOIs.
• Other than the endpoints you are using to connect to the test machine, the test system APIs will function in exactly the same way as the live service APIs.
• The data in the test system will occasionally be over-written.
• If you go on to become a client, you will still be able to use the test system as a sandpit to try out new services.

Documentation is also available on test system APIs.

If you want to move on to assigning persistent, live DOIs, please email us to discuss how to proceed.