Become a member
On this page you will find information about the TIB DOI Consortium and a description of the steps to join the TIB DOI Consortium.
How does the TIB DOI Consortium work?
As a member of the TIB DOI Consortium, you gain access to DataCite's DOI system. The DOI system offers both the use of the user interface Fabrica, through which DOIs can be registered manually in a form or via file upload, and the use of several interfaces (REST and Graph QL APIs).
Who does the TIB DOI Consortium address?
Within the framework of the TIB DOI Consortium, TIB offers scientific institutions, such as universities, research institutions as well as academic initiatives and societies based in Germany, whose objectives are primarily non-profit-oriented, the opportunity to register DOIs for scientific resources such as research data, journal articles, software, videos and gray literature. As a founding member of the non-profit association DataCite, TIB leads the national TIB DOI Consortium.
What are the requirements for registering DOIs?
An agreement between the TIB and the scientific institution will be required. The scientific institution is responsible for this:
- The institution guarantees the long-term archiving and accessibility of DOI-registered scientific resources, in accordance with the DFG's "Guten Wissenschaftlichen Praxis", for at least 10 years.
- DOI registration requires the submission or entry of metadata into Fabrica, this must be maintained over the long term. The current DataCite metadata schema can be viewed here: http://schema.datacite.org.
- The scientific resources have a certain quality of content, i.e. they are citable.
- The DOI refers to a landing page (also called a "splash page"), which corresponds to best practice. On this landing page, the object is described again (metadata) and information is available on how to access the actual object. You can find more information on the landing page here: Wie soll eine Landing Page gestaltet sein?
How do I get access to the test environment?
After sending the signed declaration of participation, each institution receives a Consortium Organization account in the production and test environment. In the test environment, DOI registration can be tested in the Fabrica web interface and via API integration. DOIs registered in the test environment are for demonstration purposes only and are not visible on the internet.
We will be happy to set up access to the test environment for you before you join the TIB DOI Consortium. Contact us at doi@tib.eu to obtain access data for the test environment.
How much does participation in the TIB DOI Consortium cost?
The DataCite fee model for a consortium includes an annual membership fee and an annual service fee. The annual DataCite service fee is settled with the consortium members in accordance with the DataCite fee model. The DataCite membership fee of € 2,000 is paid by TIB.
Fees overview since 2025
| Tier | Annual DOI range | Org. Fee | + DOI Fee | = Service Fee | - Discount (z. B. 40 %) | + 19 % MwSt. | = Sum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 - 1.999 | 500 € | + pro DOI 0,80 € | = mind. 500 € | - 200 € | + 57,00 € | = 357,00 € |
| 2 | 2.000 - 10.000 | 500 € | + 1.600 € | = 2.100 € | - 840 € | + 239,40 € | = 1.499,40 € |
| 3 | 10.001 - 100.000 | 500 € | + 2.500 € | = 3.000 € | - 1.200 € | + 342,00 € | = 2.142,00 € |
| 4 | 100.001 - 250.000 | 500 € | + 3.500 € | = 4.000 € | - 0 € | + 760,00 € | = 4.760,00 € |
| 5 | 250.001 - 1.000.000 | 500 € | + 8.500 € | = 9.000 € | - 0 € | + 1.710,00 € | = 10.710,00 € |
| 6 | 1.000.001 - 2.000.000 | 500 € | + 13.000 € | = 13.500 € | - 0 € | + 2.565,00 € | = 16.065,00 € |
| 7 | 2.000.001 - 5.000.000 | 500 € | + 18.500 € | = 19.000 € | - 0 € | + 3.610,00 € | = 22.610,00 € |
| 8 | 5.000.001 - 10.000.000 | 500 € | + 25.500 € | = 26.000 € | - 0 € | + 4.940,00 € | = 30.940,00 € |
The annual service fee in the TIB DOI Consortium paid by each participating institution consists of a fee for the institution, the organization fee of 500 €, and a DOI fee, which is calculated on the basis of the newly registered DOIs in the previous year. The service fee includes the administration of all repository/periodicals accounts, prefixes and DOIs belonging to the institution. Depending on the number of members in the consortium and their DOI registration numbers, a corresponding consortium cap (consortium discount) is applied.
The consortium discount depends on the number of consortium members. It is deducted from the annual service fee. The discount results from the following levels:
- 5 - 30 members: 1.000 € multiplied by the total number of members in the consortium.
- 31 - 60 members: 700 € multiplied by the total number of members in the consortium
- 61 - 100 members: 600 € multiplied by the total number of members in the consortium
- 101 + members: 500 € multiplied by the total number of members in the consortium.
The difference between the total costs for the consortium calculated in this way and the service fees of the members is calculated as a percentage discount.
In 2021, a discount of 40.1 % was deducted for 90 consortium members (61-100 institutions, see above). In 2022, the discount was 42.56 %. In 2023, the discount was 42.39%. In 2024, the discount is 40.43%. The discount will be recalculated each year and cannot be guaranteed in advance.
For DOI registrations of more than 10,000 DOIs per year, an additional service fee in the amount of the DataCite membership of 2,000 € will be charged. This additional fee ensures that the additional burden on infrastructure and administration for DataCite caused by high DOI registration numbers is compensated. The consortium discount is not applied to this additional fee.
Invoicing is carried out by TIB in the first quarter of the year.
VAT will be charged on all prices.
What do members pay in the first year?
Institutions that join the TIB DOI Consortium during the course of a year pay a pro-rated service fee starting from the first of a month after joining the consortium. For example, if a membership application was signed on 14 February, the service fee will be pro-rated for ten months from March.
The annual service fee for participation in the TIB DOI Consortium consists of a fee for the institution, the organization fee in the amount of € 500, and the DOI fee, which is calculated for existing members on the basis of DOI registrations in the previous year. As new institution have not registered DOIs in the previous year, a good faith estimate of the number of DOI registrations expected for the current year is used for the first billing. Backlogs are not to be included in the estimate. If the actual registrations differ from the estimate, no credit will be given nor additional payment will be required.
The consortium discount, which is based on the number of participants and recalculated annually, will be deducted from the service fee.
Steps to join the TIB DOI Consortium
All documents for joining the TIB DOI Consortium can be found here:
- The participation agreement for joining the TIB DOI Consortium.
- The consortium agreement between TIB and DataCite (Annex A).
- The information material regarding the TIB DOI Consortium (Annex B) since 2025.
Four steps to a registered DOI in the TIB DOI Consortium:
- If your institution would like to become a member of the TIB DOI Consortium, please send us the completed organizational profile (PDF) (doi@tib.eu) so that we can plan the next steps with you.
- If you have decided to join the TIB DOI Consortium, please send us the completed and signed "Declaration of participation in the TIB DOI Consortium" to the following address:
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
Direktion
Welfengarten 1 B
30167 Hannover
For legal reasons, only analogue signed documents can be accepted. If possible, you are welcome to send us an additional scan in advance so that we can expedite the process.
- After signing the agreement to participate in the TIB DOI Consortium, you will receive a confirmation email with an invitation to an onboarding and access to Fabrica, DataCite's DOI system, and can start registering DOIs.
- To complete DOI registration, you will need a landing page URL and descriptive metadata. To register DOIs, you can either use Fabrica's online form, the REST API or the DOI plugin of a service provider. A detailed explanation of how to register a DOI can be found at: Create a DOI via Form.
Steps for participation at a glance
All current members can be found here: Members of the TIB DOI Consortium.
Further useful information can be found in the FAQs.
