Organizational restructuring is a natural part of growth and change, but it can bring ripple effects to your Crossref membership. Whether it’s a department name change, a shift in institutional structure, or colleagues moving to new roles or leaving the organization, these transitions can impact how your membership is managed. The good news is that with a few proactive steps, you can ensure everything continues to run smoothly. In this post, we’ll walk through what to watch out for, how to stay prepared, and why keeping us updated makes all the difference.
Changes to your organization name
Your member account name is important - it’s the name that appears in the metadata about your published content as the “publisher name” of the content. And if you’re an independent member, it appears on your invoices as well.
There are several reasons why your organization name may have changed - you may have been acquired by another organization, or perhaps two institutions have merged. Or perhaps this is just a rebranding. Whatever the reason, you need to let us know about the name change.
One of your trusted contacts can request a change to your account name by sending us a legal document that confirms the change. If the new organization name is still the same legal entity as your original organization name, we can update it for you once we receive the request email from your trusted contact. If the name change means your organization becomes a different legal entity, you need to re-accept our membership terms by filling out and submitting the Crossref membership application form. If you are a Sponsored member, you need to let your Sponsor know and fill out their Sponsored member application form.
Tip: If you are sending us a new application because your name change means you are a new legal entity, use the “Anything else we should know” field at the end of the application form to reference your existing DOI prefix (10.xxxxx) and the fact that this is a name change for an existing membership. This helps us process your request faster.
Changes to the main trusted contacts at your organization
Keeping your contact information up to date is essential. We cannot process requests unless they come from a trusted contact on your member account. If someone leaves your organization or changes role, please let us know so we can update your record.
We recommend having at least three separate contacts to ensure continuity. Here’s a quick overview of the roles:
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The Primary contact: this person is our key contact at your organization. They receive product and service updates, and we contact them about things like changes to terms or service agreements. They also receive our monthly resolution reports showing failed resolutions on your DOIs. There can only be one Primary contact.
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The Voting contact: this person will vote in our Board elections. There can only be one Voting contact. The Voting contact is often the same person as the Primary contact.
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The Technical contact: this person will receive technical updates, DOI error reports, and conflict reports to help you solve problems with your records quickly. We encourage you to use a shared, generic email address for this contact.
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The Metadata Quality contact: this contact will be responsible for fixing any metadata errors that are spotted by the scholarly community. The Metadata Quality contact is often the same person as the Technical contact.
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The Billing contact: this contact will receive invoices from us and pay the annual membership and ongoing content registration fees. They will also receive reminder emails about unpaid invoices. We encourage you to use a shared, generic email address for this contact.
If you subscribe to our Similarity Check service, there are two more contacts to consider. You will have a Similarity Check editorial contact (the main contact who is usually the administrator for your iThenticate account) and Similarity Check technical contact (the contact for Turnitin if they have problems indexing your content to keep you eligible for the Similarity Check service).
Please note if you are a Sponsored Member working with Crossref through a Sponsoring Organization, we only need a Primary contact and a Voting contact.
It’s essential to keep your contact information up to date, because each contact role carries specific responsibilities. It’s particularly important to keep your Billing contact up to date. We send our invoices out to your Billing contact, and we also give them login credentials for our payment portal. Independent members who prefer to pay invoices by credit or debit card can do so directly through the portal, where you’ll also find any current open invoices. If billing messages don’t reach the right person, payments may be delayed—and that could eventually lead to your account being suspended. Thus, you would have been unable to register any DOIs since that point.
Changes to the people with Crossref account credentials at your organization
To register your records with us, you will use a set of Crossref account credentials. If someone with Crossref account credentials leaves your organization, you need to let us know so we can remove their access to your account immediately.
We have two different models for credentials: role credentials and user credentials. We set up the right style of Crossref account credentials for you based on the type of member account you have and the content registration tool that you use.
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Role credentials - this model uses one shared Crossref username and password for everyone in your organization.
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If someone who knows the password for your role credentials leaves your organization, please contact us to send you a link so you can update the password. You will then have to share the new password with your colleagues.
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If you are a Sponsored Member, you can contact your Sponsoring Organization to reset your password.
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User credentials - This model gives each individual at your organization their own login details, consisting of their email address and a password of their choosing
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If someone at your organization with user credentials leaves your organization, please contact us and we will remove their access.
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If a new person at your organization needs a set of user credentials, please contact us, providing their first name, family name and email address, and we will provide them with a set of user credentials.
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At the moment, there isn’t a dashboard where you can update your details yourself. Our Membership team is happy to assist with updates. If you are one of the trusted contacts on your member account**,** please reach out to us directly so we can update your account details on your behalf.
This way, transitions are handled smoothly, and your organization continues to benefit from reliable access to Crossref services.