1. Conflicts make DOI discovery more difficult The majority of CrossRef query transactions are between machines thus automation is essential. Ambiguous DOI metadata interferes with that automation. 4 things we can do about conflicts: Working to reduce DOI conflicts will be an ongoing task for all CrossRef stakeholders. 1)Prevent them by supplying unique metadata in each DOIs deposit (see http://www.crossref.org/02publishers/how_to_faq.html#Anchor-Dealin- 60673)http://www.crossref.org/02publishers/how_to_faq.html#Anchor-Dealin- 60673 2)Resolve them by updating previous deposits with new, distinct metadata 3)Resolve them in bulk by contacting support@crossref.orgsupport@crossref.org 4)Resolve them using your CrossRef account and the conflict administration screens NEXT This presentation was prepared on February 10, 2005

2. This presentation walks through the process of using the CrossRef system to resolve you conflicts without contacting CrossRef for assistance This approach will let you eliminate significant quantities of conflicts with a few simple steps. For conflict quantities in the 100s it might be best to contact CrossRef This approach will only let you resolve conflicts involving DOIs having the same prefix/owner. Conflicts can be created by one publisher that impact another publishers DOIs. Please contact CrossRef to resolve these conflicts NEXT

3. The CrossRef conflict report is a good place to start. For each publisher it identifies the titles that have conflicts www.crossref.orgwww.crossref.org => members area => member resources => system reports => conflict report (note: the periodic email notifications contain the same data) # of DOIs File size Click on the title to see the conflict details NEXT

4. The detail report lists all data about each conflict Conflict IDThe submission that caused the conflictThe submission ID of the other DOIPublication titleThe metadata of the conflict DOI (author,volume,issue,page,year,item title) The conflict and other DOI metadata should be identical BUT, if an anomaly occurred this alert will show the metadata of the other DOI (note the subtle title difference) DOI pairs can have several conflicts if the DOIs were deposited repeatedly with the same metadata. This record lists the other conflict IDs and their status (null: not resolved, A: has been made an alias, P:has been made a prime, U:conflict was automatically resolved by an update of the metadata, R: conflict was manually erased/resolved) NEXT

5. =========================================== Created: 2003-03-27 15:52:04.0 ConfID: 865 CauseID: 14986658 OtherID: 14986596, JT: Physical Review MD: null, 69,11-12,674,1946,Proceedings of the American Physical Society - NY DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 (943-R 944-P 637-P 691-P 769-P 865-R 61503-U 61511-U ) ALERT: MD mismatch! null, 69,11-12,674,1946,Proceedings of the American Physical Society (10.1103/PhysRev.69.674.2 (943-null 944-A 637-A 691-A 769-R 865-null 61503-U 61511-U )) =========================================== Created: 2003-03-27 16:01:00.0 ConfID: 943 CauseID: 14986735 OtherID: 14986596, JT: Physical Review MD: null, 69,11-12,674,1946,Proceedings of the American Physical Society - NY DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 (943-R 944-P 637-P 691-P 769-P 865-R 61503-U 61511-U ) ALERT: MD mismatch! null, 69,11-12,674,1946,Proceedings of the American Physical Society (10.1103/PhysRev.69.674.2 (943-null 944-A 637-A 691-A 769-R 865-null 61503-U 61511-U )) =========================================== A worst case scenario! Same two DOIs involved in these two conflicts In some conflicts prime/alias relations have been setup, other conflicts appear unresolved or inconsistent NEXT

6. What does this situation mean??? Something went wrong in earlier attempts to resolve these conflicts (system aborted?) Since at least one conflict is resolved with a prime/alias pair any query with this metadata will work QUERY: |Physical Review||69|11-12|674|1946||| Results: 0031899X|Physical Review||69|11-12|674|1946|full_text||10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 What should be done next ??? Having these open conflicts is really just a nuisance, to get rid of them from our reports lets make DOI 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 prime in all conflicts This is a good thing. It means the primary CrossRef mission is being achieved! NEXT

7. Step 1: login to http://doi.crossref.org NEXT

8. Step 2: go to the Metadata Admin /Conflict page NEXT

9. Step 3: enter the conflict ID and select consolidated conflicts NEXT

10. Hightlights which conflict we requested This form also lists all the conflicts related to these DOIs Most conflicts have a prime DOI, from the Conflict Report we know which one it is Some conflicts status is ambiguous Click on the DOI to view the target article NEXT

11. Select the DOI to be made prime NEXT

12. Results Note: previous conflicts that had a prime/alias pair are re-processed! NEXT

13. To review the effect go back to the conflict administration page, enter the DOI, clear all check boxes and submit NEXT

14. When Show consolidated conflicts is not selected the display shows more detail about each conflict In this example, all conflicts are resolved so there is no action to take (action buttons only show on Consolidated view) NEXT

15. The alias/prime settings show up in the DOI query results NEXT Prime DOI returned Prime/Alias flag

16. Lets do another …. Created: 2004-07-28 00:48:53.0 ConfID: 118504 CauseID: 81049593 OtherID: JT: Journal of the American Chemical Society MD: null, 126,30,9465,2004,null DOI: 10.1021/ja040932t (118502-null 118503-null 118504-null 118624-null 118625-null 118626-null 118627-null ) DOI: 10.1021/ja040944e (118502-null 118503-null 118504-null 118624-null 118625-null 118626-null 118627-null ) DOI: 10.1021/ja040943m (118503-null 118504-null 118624-null 118625-null 118626-null 118627-null ) DOI: 10.1021/ja0409311 (118504-null 118624-null 118625-null 118626-null 118627-null ) 4 DOIs involved in a family of 7 conflicts NEXT

17. Again, use the conflict admin form, enter a conflict ID and select Show consolidated conflicts What to do? From the conflict report we know all 4 DOIs point to the same page in the same issue and none have an author or article title. Lets view them... NEXT

18. All 4 DOIs point to BookReviews that appear on the same page of the same issue. There simply is not enough metadata to distinguish these 4 from one another. These conflicts should just be erased! NEXT

19. On the Consolidated conflict form manually resolve all conflicts NEXT

20. Results: all conflicts are simply resolved without any DOI being made prime or alias NEXT

21. What does it mean to manually resolve conflicts? Basic metadata queries will not find these DOIs: Query |Journal of the American Chemical Society||126|30|9465|2004||| Produces Journal of the American Chemical Society 126 30 9465 2004 XML queries will find these DOIs: Query Produces Journal of the American Chemical Society 126 9465 2004 10.1021/ja040944e 00027863 Journal of the American Chemical Society 126 30 9465 2004 full_text 10.1021/ja040943m … (more) NEXT

22. What if a mistake is made? Conflict was erased or marked as resolved Just undo NEXT

23. Conflict is restored, ready to be resolved again !

24. The End Conflict resolution function has come a long way! Attention to details by all members will improve data quality Pay attention to your deposit logs!!! Working to reduce DOI conflicts will be an ongoing task for all CrossRef stakeholders.