Knowledge Base Core Concepts What Is CrossRef?
Core Concepts

What Is CrossRef?

CrossRef is a non-profit organization that operates the primary DOI registration system for academic publications and provides citation linking, metadata, and plagiarism detection services.

Definition

CrossRef is a non-profit membership organization that operates the primary DOI registration infrastructure for academic and professional publications. Founded in 2000, CrossRef maintains the metadata records and URL resolver for over 150 million DOIs assigned to journal articles, books, conference papers, datasets, and preprints.


CrossRef is a Registration Agency of the International DOI Foundation. When a journal registers a DOI through CrossRef, CrossRef maintains the persistent link between that DOI and the published article's URL.

CrossRef Services

Beyond DOI registration, CrossRef provides:


  • Crossmark — A standard button/badge that readers can click to see whether an article has been corrected, retracted, or updated
  • Cited-by — Tracks which articles cite which, enabling citation counts visible in Google Scholar and other tools
  • Similarity Check — Plagiarism screening powered by iThenticate, available to CrossRef members
  • Metadata Plus — API access to CrossRef's metadata for all registered DOIs
  • Event Data — Tracks social media and web mentions of DOIs

Frequently Asked Questions

No. DOI is the identifier standard. CrossRef is the agency that registers DOIs for most academic journals and books. CrossRef uses the DOI system but does not own it — the International DOI Foundation (IDF) governs DOIs.
CrossRef membership gives journals the ability to register DOIs, access the Crossmark service (tracks article corrections/retractions), use iThenticate for plagiarism screening, and participate in cited-by linking so citation counts are tracked automatically.
ScholarJMS includes automated CrossRef DOI registration. When an article is published, ScholarJMS submits the required metadata to CrossRef and assigns the DOI to the article — no manual XML upload to CrossRef is required.
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