Crossref is a nonprofit membership-based trade organization. To register DOI records with us, your organization must first join Crossref as a member. There are two ways to join Crossref: as an independent member, or through a sponsor. Both types of members have the same rights and responsibilities, but there are ways in which independent members and sponsored members operate and engage with Crossref differently.
Independent members usually interact with Crossref directly; they pay their own fees to Crossref, and if they have a problem they contact us directly.
The setup for sponsored members is different. Sponsored members engage with Crossref via their sponsor who acts as an intermediary between us and the member.
The sponsorship program, running since 2014, was developed to expand Crossref’s ability to support a truly global membership. Sponsors support less well-resourced organizations who would fall into one of our two lowest membership fee tiers - which means organizations with publishing revenue or publishing expenses (whichever is higher) of under $1 million USD/year. Sponsors generally operate in areas of the world where they are able to provide better local language, payment, and technical support than our staff can. Sponsors may be nonprofits or commercial enterprises; they are independent entities from Crossref, but all support our mission of connecting research global outputs via the Research Nexus. Today, Crossref has over 14,500 sponsored members, representing more than 57% of all members.
To join Crossref as a sponsored member, you must first connect with one of our ~140 sponsors working in your area. You will need to sign a sponsorship agreement with your prospective sponsor; once you do this, they will share a Crossref sponsored membership application link with you to complete. This bespoke application form will mean you apply to join us through that specific sponsor. Once you have completed this application, we will review it to make sure we are able to accept your application, and we may have a few follow-up questions for you. When your membership is accepted, you will be assigned your DOI prefix.
If you’re considering joining Crossref through a sponsor, there are a few questions you will want to discuss with your potential sponsor.
Eligibility
When a sponsor begins working with Crossref, they agree to support a certain subset of members, and they are generally not able to support members beyond this scope. These limitations might be based on the geography, (non)profit status, and organization type of the members, as well as the type of materials the members wish to register DOIs for and the platforms they host their materials on.
Some example sponsor clauses might be:
- Sponsor A supports nonprofit organizations in Latin America publishing journals.
- Sponsor B supports Japanese universities and libraries using Sponsor B’s hosting platform.
Note that sponsors are only able to support members whose annual publishing revenue or publishing expenses (whichever is higher) are $1 million USD or less.
When identifying the right sponsor for your organization, you should consider questions like:
- Does the sponsor support organizations in my country?
- Does the sponsor support my type of organization (universities, libraries, commercial publishers, societies, hospitals, foundations, etc.)?
- Does the sponsor support for-profit or non-profit organizations?
- Does the sponsor allow members it supports to register DOI records for the types of materials I publish (journal articles, book chapters, books, datasets, reports, theses/dissertations, grants, etc.)?
- Does the sponsor require that its members use a certain hosting platform, or require that members submit metadata records in a certain way?
Fees
For independent members (except those in GEM-eligible countries, more on that below), Crossref charges two main fees: an annual membership fee each January and a one-time per-DOI content registration fee. This content registration fee is billed quarterly.
Sponsors pay Crossref a single annual membership fee on behalf of all of their sponsored members, and also pay the quarterly content registration fees incurred by all of their members. Most sponsors will pass fees onto their sponsored members to cover these costs and possibly to cover additional costs related to their time, labor, and administration. It’s very important that you understand your prospective sponsor’s fee structure, and their payment expectations of you. Good questions to ask are:
- Are there any annual/recurring fees for your sponsorship?
- What fees do you charge for each new DOI we register? We plan to register [book chapters/journal articles/technical reports/etc.]; do the fees differ depending on the type of material we will be registering?
- Are there any additional fees that we can expect?
- What is the payment schedule? When would a payment be considered late?
- Which currencies and payment methods do you accept?
- How will we be notified if fees ever change?
Because sponsors are independent of Crossref, they set their own fees. It’s the responsibility of members to be sure they understand the fees imposed by their sponsors.
I mentioned the GEM program earlier in this post; Crossref’s GEM program entitles organizations in 78 countries to join Crossref without incurring any annual membership fees or content registration fees. If your organization is from a GEM-eligible nation, you may still join Crossref through a sponsor, or you may join as an independent member. Be aware that if you join via a sponsor, the sponsor may still charge you fees for their services, even though Crossref is not billing your sponsor for your membership or content registration fees.
Metadata registration and technical support
Some sponsors register DOI records on behalf of their members, while other sponsors let members register their own DOI records. It’s important that you understand exactly what services your sponsor will be providing if you choose to work with them. Good questions to ask your sponsor include:
- Who is responsible for assigning DOIs and registering metadata records with Crossref: you or us?
- If you, the sponsor, will be registering DOIs on our behalf, how do we alert you of new DOIs to be registered or corrections in metadata for existing DOIs?
- Our organization publishes [content types: journal articles, book chapters, datasets, etc.]; are you able to support DOI record registration for those content types?
- If we use a journal hosting platform with a built-in automatic DOI deposit method (like OJS), will we be given the depositor credentials to use this DOI deposit method ourselves?
- If we need technical support, who should we contact and how long can we expect to wait for assistance generally?
- Can you offer support in [my language]?
- Via what methods is support offered (email, text, WeChat, WhatsApp, Zoom, etc.)?
Access to Similarity Check
Many members use Crossref’s optional Similarity Check service, powered by iThenticate. Sponsored members may also use this service, but only if it is offered by their sponsor. If you are interested in subscribing to this additional service, please consider asking your sponsor about it:
- Do you currently offer the Similarity Check service?
- What fees do you charge for this service?
- If you don’t currently offer this service, are you considering offering it? If so, when?
Note that Similarity Check subscription and usage incurs additional fees beyond the annual membership fee and content registration fee. Similarity Check access is not covered as part of Crossref’s GEM program, so the sponsors of members from GEM-eligible countries will be charged by Crossref for their Similarity Check access and usage.
Other points to consider
It’s useful to think holistically about working with a sponsor. What are the specific concerns of your organization and your own publications not mentioned above? A few more assorted topics to consider asking your prospective sponsor about include:
- My [book/journal/etc.] has previously had DOI records registered by another Crossref member. Can you help me transfer that material and its DOIs to my new Crossref membership?
- What is the procedure if I wish to cancel my Crossref membership later, or transfer my sponsorship to another sponsor, or move to become an independent Crossref member? (Please note: if a sponsored member decides to move to a different sponsor, or become an independent member, we will check whether you have any outstanding fees with your current sponsor first.)
- Do you offer any support for archiving published materials so that DOIs remain persistent in the long-term?
I hope these questions offer a useful starting place when searching for the right sponsor. If you’re ready to join Crossref, a list of all active sponsors is here. You can sort by the country in which the sponsor is located (“base country”) or the area the sponsor serves (“region”).
Let us know if you have any questions!