Hi Mike
Thanks for your message, and for your interest in Crossref.
We note that you would like to register DOIs for content published in Kenhub Atlas of Human Anatomy. As you have discovered, it isn’t possible to register DOIs with Crossref unless you represent a publishing organisation with Crossref membership. We note that you are the Editor of the publication for which you seek to register a DOI. Are you able to confirm the name of the publishing organisation responsible for the textbook, please? It is through this organisation that a DOI should be assigned. If the publishing organisation in question isn’t an existing Crossref member, they might consider joining to facilitate the registration of DOIs for their published content.
I have copied below some general information on Crossref membership, and on our fees, for reference. Unfortunately it would not be possible for you to take out Crossref membership as an individual for the purposes of registering a DOI for this textbook, as Crossref membership is not open to individuals. This is because Crossref membership brings with it certain obligations pertaining to the long-term stewardship of metadata associated with DOIs to which it is difficult for individuals to commit.
Background information
You need to be a member of the Crossref organisation in order to get a DOI prefix so you can register DOIs and metadata about your published content with us. We then share this metadata with the scholarly community through our free, open APIs.
Membership of Crossref is open to organisations that produce professional and scholarly materials and content - If your content is likely to be cited in the research ecosystem or considered part of the evidence trail, then you are eligible to join.
You need to apply in the name of the organisation that is responsible for the long term stewardship of your content, rather than in the name of an individual journal or conference. You’ll then be able to use this single, central member account to register DOIs for all the content that your organisation publishes.
As a member, you have obligations to your fellow members and the wider scholarly community. These include registering your content with us (so registering a DOI, a resolution URL, and a lot of other metadata), keeping that metadata up-to-date, and displaying your DOIs on a unique landing page for each of your content items. This landing page needs to include full bibliographic information for the specific item you are registering, plus a way to access the full text. You also need to ensure that you use DOIs to identify any works in your reference lists. When you join, you agree to these membership terms.
In return, you join a community of publishers who are all linking to each other persistently through their references. Your metadata is shared with hundreds of organisations in the scholarly ecosystem, and you are able to take advantage of Crossref services (content registration, the Funder Registry, Similarity Check, Cited-by and Crossmark). And, of course, you’re able to create a persistent identifier for each citable object that you publish.
Membership options and fees
Independent membership
Independent members pay an annual membership fee, which is tiered depending on your publishing revenue/expenses. As a guide, the lowest tier is US$275 per year for organisations with annual publishing revenue lower than US$1m. If you don’t have revenue for your publishing, we look at your publishing expenses. These fees are the same for both commercial and not-for-profit organisations.
A pro-rated membership fee for the remainder of the current year is due before your account can be activated, meaning you’ll receive an invoice soon after applying, and then each and every subsequent year in January. You are responsible for paying these annual membership fees each year unless you actively cancel your membership.
In addition to the membership fee, there are also one-off fees for each item you register with us (but no further charges to update the metadata associated with these records once they are registered). We send out quarterly content registration invoices in arrears. Content registration fees vary depending on content type and whether the content is current or backfile but, as a guide, the cost to register a single, current journal article is US$1.
You can find more information on our fees page.
Please note - organisations located in the least economically-advantaged countries in the world do not pay an annual membership fee and do not pay content registration fees - find out more on our Global Equitable Membership (GEM) program page.
Membership via a Sponsor
We know that cost and technical capabilities can be barriers to participation, so we offer a sponsorship program for organisations in some regions. Members who join via a sponsor have the same benefits and obligations as other members, but they have someone to support their membership. Sponsors pay one membership fee for all the members that they work with, and they also pay content registration fees on behalf of their members. They also provide technical and local language support for their members.
Sponsors are able to charge for their services, so it’s important to discuss your agreement with your sponsor before joining. If a member is eligible for the Global Equitable Membership (GEM) program, we do not charge their sponsors membership fees or content registration fees, but again, the sponsor is able to charge for their services. Find out more about working with a sponsor.
How to join and what happens next
Once we receive your application, it usually takes a week or so to complete the process, depending on how many extra questions we have to ask you.
If you are applying as an independent member, we send you a pro-rated membership fee invoice to cover your membership fee for the remaining months of the current year. Once you have paid your prorated membership fee, we provide you with a DOI prefix.
If you are working with a sponsor, we provide you with a DOI prefix as soon as we have answers to any outstanding questions.
Once you have your Crossref DOI prefix, you then use this prefix to create full DOIs for your content, and register it with us by providing the URL for the content and a lot of other metadata. This can be done via an online form, or by submitting XML - you can read more about the options here. If you are working with a sponsor, they may register the content on your behalf - do make sure you understand the agreement with them.
To apply to join, please read through this page carefully and select the relevant option at the bottom of the page.
I hope this helps, but do let us know if you have any further questions.
Thank you
Sally Jennings
Member Support Specialist