Subject Guides: APA Style Guide: 7th Edition: Introduction to DOI

Introduction to DOI

APA follows the recommendations of the International DOI Foundation concerning the format of a DOI, which currently appears as follows:

https://doi.org/xxxxx

Some items in the NIC electronic databases still display the previous DOI formats:

doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2354.1996.tb00225.x
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2354.1996.tb00225.x

To adhere to the newest guidelines and maintain consistency, remove "doi:" or "http://dx.doi.org/" and add "https://doi.org/" in front of the DOI number.

Here is an example of an APA reference list entry with DOI:

Bottomley, A. (1996). Group cognitive behavioural therapy interventions with cancer patients: A review of the literature. European Journal of Cancer Cure, 5(3), 143-146. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2354.1996.tb00225.x

According to the 7th edition APA Manual (2020, p. 298):

a DOI (digital object identifier) is a "unique alphanumeric string that identifies content and provides a persistent link to its location on the internet."
a DOI is a string of numbers and letters that begin with "https://doi.org/", "http://dx.doi.org", or "DOI:"

APA Citation Style requires that, when available, a DOI is included in the reference list entry.

If you ONLY have the DOI and need to find article information, use the following link :

Resolve a DOI Name

From there, you can type or paste the DOI in the search box. The search will (in most cases) lead you to the publisher's website.

When a DOI is long or complex, you may use a shortDOI.

Use the shortDOI Service provided by the International DOI Foundation to create shortDOIs.

A work can include either a DOI or a shortDOI.
The shortDOI Service creates shortened DOI names, of the form 10/abcde, as aliases for existing DOI names, which are often very long strings.