DataCite API Guide

Overview

DataCite is a leading global DOI registration agency focused on research data. While CrossRef primarily handles DOIs for publications, DataCite specializes in assigning persistent identifiers to datasets, software, samples, instruments, and other research outputs. DataCite has registered over 50 million DOIs from thousands of data repositories worldwide.

The DataCite REST API provides access to metadata for all DataCite DOIs. It is essential for researchers and developers working with research data discovery, data citation, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data practices, and repository integration. The metadata follows the DataCite Metadata Schema, which is designed specifically for describing research data and includes fields for resource types, funding references, geolocation, and related identifiers.

The API is free, open, and requires no authentication. It returns JSON responses following the JSON:API specification, with robust filtering, faceting, and pagination support.

Authentication

No authentication required. The DataCite API is fully open and free to use. No API key, registration, or email is needed. For write operations (DOI registration and metadata updates), authentication via DataCite member credentials is required, but read-only access is completely open.

Core Endpoints

DOIs: Search and Retrieve Dataset Metadata

• URL: GET https://api.datacite.org/dois
• Parameters:

  Param	Type	Required	Description
  query	string	No	Full-text search query
  resource-type-id	string	No	Filter by resource type (dataset, software, text, etc.)
  affiliation-id	string	No	Filter by creator affiliation ROR ID
  registered	string	No	Filter by registration year (e.g., 2024)
  page[size]	integer	No	Results per page (default: 25, max: 1000)
  page[number]	integer	No	Page number for pagination
  sort	string	No	Sort field: relevance, created, -created, updated

• Example:

  curl "https://api.datacite.org/dois?query=climate+change+dataset&resource-type-id=dataset&page[size]=10&sort=-created"
  

• Response: JSON:API formatted response with data array containing DOI records. Each record has attributes with doi, titles, creators, publisher, publicationYear, resourceType, descriptions, subjects, dates, relatedIdentifiers, fundingReferences, and geoLocations.

Single DOI: Direct Lookup

• URL: GET https://api.datacite.org/dois/{doi}
• Parameters:

  Param	Type	Required	Description
  doi	string	Yes	The full DOI (e.g., 10.5281/zenodo.1234567)

• Example:

  curl "https://api.datacite.org/dois/10.5281/zenodo.3678171"
  

• Response: JSON:API response with complete metadata for the specified DOI, including all DataCite Metadata Schema fields.

Providers: Data Repository Information

• URL: GET https://api.datacite.org/providers
• Parameters:

  Param	Type	Required	Description
  query	string	No	Search provider name or description
  region	string	No	Filter by region (e.g., EMEA, Americas, Asia Pacific)
  page[size]	integer	No	Results per page

• Example:

  curl "https://api.datacite.org/providers?query=CERN&page[size]=5"
  

• Response: JSON:API response with provider records including name, displayName, region, memberType, website, and associated repositories and DOI prefixes.

Clients: Repository Details

• URL: GET https://api.datacite.org/clients
• Parameters:

  Param	Type	Required	Description
  query	string	No	Search repository name
  provider-id	string	No	Filter by provider
  software	string	No	Filter by repository software (e.g., dspace, dataverse)
  page[size]	integer	No	Results per page

• Example:

  curl "https://api.datacite.org/clients?query=zenodo&page[size]=5"
  

• Response: JSON:API response with repository records including name, DOI count, and service details.

Rate Limits

No published rate limits. DataCite does not enforce strict API quotas for read access. However, the service is operated by a nonprofit organization, so users should implement reasonable request pacing. For large-scale data mining, use the DataCite OAI-PMH endpoint or the public data file available at https://datafiles.datacite.org. Sustained high-volume requests may be throttled without notice.

Common Patterns

Discover Datasets for a Research Topic

Find published datasets related to a research area:

curl -s "https://api.datacite.org/dois?query=CRISPR+genome+editing&resource-type-id=dataset&page[size]=5&sort=-created" | jq '.data[] | {doi: .attributes.doi, title: .attributes.titles[0].title, year: .attributes.publicationYear, publisher: .attributes.publisher}'

Find Software Citations

Search for research software registered with DataCite:

curl -s "https://api.datacite.org/dois?query=python+machine+learning&resource-type-id=software&page[size]=10" | jq '.data[] | {doi: .attributes.doi, title: .attributes.titles[0].title, year: .attributes.publicationYear}'

Link Datasets to Publications

Use related identifiers to find papers associated with a dataset:

curl -s "https://api.datacite.org/dois/10.5281/zenodo.3678171" | jq '.data.attributes.relatedIdentifiers[] | select(.relationType == "IsSupplementTo" or .relationType == "IsReferencedBy") | {type: .relationType, id: .relatedIdentifier}'

References

• Official documentation: https://support.datacite.org/docs/api
• DataCite Metadata Schema: https://schema.datacite.org/
• JSON:API specification: https://jsonapi.org/