Guide on how to update resource resolution URL

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Greetings from the Crossref Technical Support Desk, and Happy February #TeamCrossref!

With the number of title transfers that occur throughout January, this is a great time to remind you, our members, how to update your resource resolution URLs. The resource resolution URL is the link to the web page you want users to see when they click on your DOI. Resource resolution URLs are often updated as a result of a title transfer or website platform migration.

The two available options on how you can update your URLs are: a) resubmitting metadata with new URLs (or, any other metadata that needs to be updated), or b) sending us, Crossref support, a tab-separated list of DOIs and their new resource resolution URLs.

OPTION A: Resubmitting metadata with new URLs

You can update the metadata associated with an existing DOI at any point by submitting a new deposit for that DOI with the relevant metadata updates. Submitting a new deposit will overwrite all existing metadata for that DOI and replace it with the metadata in the new deposit XML file. This metadata can be submitted either through the Web deposit form, Metadata manager or the Crossref Admin Console. Please note that there is no deposit fee for updating DOI metadata.

NOTE: If you are editing an XML file that has already been deposited, be sure to increment the value in the timestamp field. The number in the timestamp field needs to increase each time a DOI is updated.

OPTION B: Sending us a tab-delimited list of the DOIs

If you have a number of DOIs that need resource resolution URLs updated, you can send us a tab-separated list (with reference to the example below) of these DOIs and their respective new URLs, and we’ll update them for you from our end.

Feel free to request for a list of all your DOIs by writing to us at support@crossref.org

Your tab-separated list should look like this (note: only include DOIs registered on a single prefix (in the example below, only DOIs owned by prefix 10.5555 will be successfully updated using this file)):

H:email=youremail@email.com;fromPrefix=10.5555;toPrefix=10.5555
10.5555/doi1   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl1
10.5555/doi2   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl2
10.5555/doi3   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl3
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Following the instructions for Option B in this post, I submitted a support ticket to update the resource URLs for my collection. The response directed me to these instructions which differ from those above (different header in the tab-delimited file; uploading the file myself using the admin or upload tools). Should the info above be updated?

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Hi @jgmorse ,

Thanks for posting here. We recently updated this process and opened URL updates to members. You may now update your own resource resolution URLs in bulk.

If you have a long list of URLs that need updating (for example, you’ve just finished a platform migration, or you’ve acquired a new title), you can do a bulk resource URL update. Create a tab-separated list (formatted as a text (.txt) file) of DOIs and their new URLs, and apply the following header:

H: email=youremail@email.com;fromPrefix=10.xxxx

where youremail@email.com is your email address and 10.xxxx is the owner prefix for the DOIs you’re updating.

Only DOIs of the same owning prefix may be updated together using this header. For example, if you have DOIs against two owning prefixes, you’ll need to separate your submissions and use the appropriate 10.xxxx prefix for each set of your DOIs.

This is what your tab-separated list should look like:

H: email=youremail@email.com;fromPrefix=10.5555
10.5555/doi1   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl1
10.5555/doi2   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl2
10.5555/doi3   http://www.yourdomain.com/newurl3

You can upload the file to the admin tool or use the upload tool. To use the admin tool, login and navigate to Submissions>Upload. Upload your file, choose DOI change [Note: we have since updated this type to Bulk URL Update to better reflect the action being taken by our members] as the Type, and click Upload.

If you have more than 3,000 URLs to update, you should break them into smaller files. The file upload size limit for this operation is 400 KB.

Take a look and let me know if you have any questions,
Isaac

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Hi! I’m following Option A right now to correct a URL in my submitted DOI. I’ve edited the URL on the XML file but do not know how to increment the value in the timestamp field. Therefore when I uploaded the edited XML file to the Crossref Admin Console, I got an error, unsurprisingly.

Would you be able to kindly help me with this, please? Here’s the line: 20220511111939546

Thank you very much!

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Hi @Newbie,

Thanks for your message. If 20220511111939546 is the number being returned in the timestamp error, your timestamp must be increased to at least 20220511111939547 for us to recognize that your submission represents an intended update. That’s what the timestamp element is used for. Just for further context, we have many members who are submitting thousands of submissions to us each day, so it’s a way for them (and, all members) to ensure that the metadata update they are sending is the most recent.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Kind regards,
Isaac

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@eatoni
Hello, why do I keep reporting errors when I update the URL of resources? The error message is: line does not contain two tokens. What’s the reason

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Hi @a463971250,

Thanks for following up. This error message does not look familiar to us. Can you provide the submission ID from our system where you are seeing this error message so we can investigate?

Thanks in advance,
Isaac

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Hi @ifarley,
I created a txt file as mentioned. On the submissions page the DOI change option does not exist but instead Bulk URL Update is it the same?
there is also an option DOI Resources what does this do?

I did upload the txt file selecting the Bulk URL Update option. Also how long will it take for the URLs changes to take effect from your backend?

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Hi @sultan ,

Thanks for your message. We have updated the name of that file type from DOI change to Bulk URL update to better reflect the action you’re taking. Sorry for the confusion.

As for how quickly we process these changes, it depends on how many DOIs you are updating, but, if you’re submission is free of errors, your resolution URLs should now be updated (i.e., a max file size of 400 KB or 4,000 DOIs would take ~30 to 40 minutes for us to process on most days).

-Isaac

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Hi @ifarley,
Thank you for your reply. The updates worked successfully.

Could you please provide a guidance on how to register new DOIs in bulk? I have lists of them and want to register them all in one go, just like bulk updating the resources. I currently register one by one through the XML method. Thank you.

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Hi @sultan ,

Yes, you can register DOIs in bulk, but in order to register a DOI we require more metadata than just a resolution URL, so the process for registering DOIs in bulk is a little more involved. Our XML samples are always a good place to start if your goal is register DOIs in bulk using an XML submission. Here are all our samples: Example XML metadata - Crossref. Take a look and let us know if you have follow-up questions.

-Isaac