canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/datacite.org/datacite

# DataCite REST API

The DataCite REST API lets researchers, repositories, and data providers register and manage Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for research outputs. It exposes endpoints for creating and resolving DOIs, retrieving rich Citation metadata, browsing repository clients and providers, and pulling DOI activity logs and PID Graph events. The API backs the global DataCite Commons service used by thousands of repositories to make datasets, software, and grey literature citable and findable.

## For AI agents

Register, update, and resolve research DOIs and pull associated metadata, citation events, and provider/client records from DataCite's PID infrastructure.

## Scope

Does not handle full-text article hosting, peer review, or repository file storage - use for DOI registration, resolution, and citation metadata only.

## Capabilities

- Register a new DOI for a dataset, paper, or software release with DataCite XML or JSON metadata
- Update or hide an existing DOI's metadata, URL, or state via PUT /dois/{id}
- Look up rich citation metadata for any DOI to populate citation widgets and reference lists
- Browse and filter repository clients and providers participating in the DataCite consortium
- Pull DOI activity logs and PID Graph events for citation-tracking and analytics dashboards
- Check service health via the heartbeat endpoint before submitting registration jobs

## Use cases

### Repository DOI Minting

Institutional repositories use the DataCite REST API to mint DOIs at deposit time, attaching descriptive metadata (creators, title, publisher, resource type) so that newly archived datasets and theses become immediately citable. The POST /dois endpoint accepts a full DataCite XML or JSON metadata payload and returns a registered DOI along with its DataCite Commons landing page. Most repositories integrate this in under a week alongside their submission workflow.

Example prompt: Register a DOI for a new dataset titled 'Coastal Erosion 2026' with creator ORCIDs and resource type Dataset, then return the resolved DataCite Commons URL

### Citation Metadata Lookup

Reference managers, citation widgets, and AI research assistants resolve DOIs to structured citation metadata via GET /dois/{id}. The response includes creators, titles, publication year, related identifiers, and funding references - everything needed to format a complete citation in APA, MLA, BibTeX, or CSL JSON. This avoids screen-scraping publisher pages and keeps citations consistent across tools.

Example prompt: Fetch metadata for DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7777777 and return creators, title, year, and resource type formatted as a CSL JSON record

### PID Graph Analytics

Research analytics platforms pull DOI activity logs and citation events via /events and /activities to build dashboards showing dataset reuse, software citations, and inter-DOI relationships. The PID Graph exposes typed relationships (IsCitedBy, IsSupplementTo, IsPartOf) so analytics tools can construct citation networks across the global research output graph without scraping publisher sites.

Example prompt: Pull all IsCitedBy events for DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7777777 in the last 90 days and aggregate citing DOIs by publisher

### AI Agent Research Assistant

AI agents use Jentic to call the DataCite REST API for research-task workflows: resolving DOIs cited in a draft paper, validating that a dataset DOI is still active before submission, or fetching authoritative metadata to populate a citation. Through Jentic, an agent searches by intent, loads the operation schema, and executes without managing DataCite Basic Auth credentials directly - Jentic isolates the credentials in its vault.

Example prompt: Given a list of 20 DOIs in a manuscript, resolve each via GET /dois/{id} and return a structured table of title, year, and resource type

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| POST | /dois | Register a new DOI with DataCite metadata |
| GET | /dois/{id} | Resolve a DOI to its citation metadata |
| PUT | /dois/{id} | Update metadata or URL on an existing DOI |
| GET | /clients | List repository clients in the DataCite consortium |
| GET | /providers | List DataCite member providers |
| GET | /events | Retrieve PID Graph citation and relationship events |
| GET | /activities | Audit log of metadata changes for DOIs |

## Key resources

- **DOIs** — Register, update, retrieve, and delete Digital Object Identifiers with full DataCite metadata
- **Clients** — Browse repository clients (data centers) registered with a DataCite provider
- **Providers** — List DataCite member organisations and consortia that allocate DOIs
- **Activities** — Audit log of changes to DOI metadata over time
- **Events** — PID Graph citation and relationship events between DOIs

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the DataCite REST API by hand means learning its Basic Auth with a repository client username and password against api.datacite.org and building the request and retry plumbing for DOI registration and lookup yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the DataCite REST API from the API Directory, store the credentials once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** DataCite puts the DOI id in the URL path (/dois/{id}), so a rule can pin your agent to reading and updating specific DOIs. You choose the operations it may call, so registering new DOIs is not included unless you add that operation.
- **Credential handling:** Your DataCite Basic Auth username and password are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. They never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'register a research DOI' or 'fetch citation metadata', and Jentic returns the matching DataCite operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the DataCite documentation.

## Related APIs

- **Crossref API** — Crossref registers DOIs primarily for journal articles and books; DataCite focuses on research data, software, and grey literature.
- **Figshare API** — Figshare hosts research artifacts and mints DataCite DOIs as part of its deposit flow.

## FAQ

### What authentication does the DataCite REST API use?

The DataCite REST API uses HTTP Basic authentication with a repository client username and password issued by your DataCite member provider. Through Jentic, those credentials are stored encrypted in your Jentic One instance and injected at call time, so agents never see the raw password.

### Can I mint a new DOI with the DataCite REST API?

Yes. POST /dois accepts a DataCite metadata payload (creators, titles, publisher, resource type, and a target URL) and returns a registered DOI. Your client must have a prefix allocation from your provider before the call will succeed.

### What are the rate limits for the DataCite REST API?

DataCite does not publish hard rate limits in the spec, but the production service throttles aggressive clients and asks high-volume integrators to coordinate via support. Cache GET /dois/{id} responses where possible and avoid tight loops over /events.

### How do I resolve a DOI to citation metadata through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'fetch citation metadata for a DOI', load the GET /dois/{id} operation, and execute it with the DOI as the id parameter. The response includes creators, titles, publication year, and related identifiers ready to format as BibTeX or CSL JSON.

### Is the DataCite REST API free?

Read access to GET endpoints (DOIs, clients, providers, events) is free and public. Writing DOIs requires DataCite membership and a per-repository fee paid through a provider organisation - see datacite.org/membership.

### Does the DataCite API expose citation graph events?

Yes. GET /events returns PID Graph events such as IsCitedBy, IsSupplementTo, and IsPartOf relationships between DOIs, which is how analytics tools build dataset citation dashboards.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the DataCite REST API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which DataCite operations and credentials the agent may use. You can allow it to resolve and update specific DOIs through GET and PUT on /dois/{id} while leaving DOI registration via POST /dois out of scope, since the DOI id sits in the URL path and can be pinned by rule. Read-only browsing of /clients, /providers, /events, and /activities can likewise be granted or withheld per operation.