APA Referencing and Plagiarism: What's a DOI?

• When citing online resources, you will have to provide information so a reader can locate the resources you have cited.
• The two types of identifiers that are used to locate online resources are the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and Uniform Resources Locator (URL).

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumerical string assigned to any entity for use on digital networks. The DOI provides current information on where the digital object can be found on the Internet.

All DOIs begin with a 10 and contain a prefix and a suffix separated by a slash. The prefix is a unique number of 4 or more digits assigned to organisations while the suffix is assigned by the publisher. 

When a DOI is used, no further retrieval information is needed to identify or locate the content. Where available, the DOI should be included as a hyperlink in your reference list 

An example of a journal reference with a DOI is as follows:

 Smith, F.P., Arts, H.W. & Thomas, C.R. (2003). The influence of individual beliefs
       and values in financial decision making process, Journal of Finance, 15(4). 
       https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109011000123

Not all digital resources come with a DOI. If the DOI is not available, you should provide the URL information in the reference.

An example of a journal reference with a URL is as follows:

Smith, G. (2010). Lessons from the United States: Planning for post-disaster recovery and 
       reconstruction, The Australasian Journal of  Disaster and Trauma Studies, 1, 245-263.
       https://www.massey.ac.nz/~trauma/issues/2010-1/smith.htm

If you only have the DOI but not the details of the reference entry, you can search for the information through a DOI Resolver available on the following website.