Streamlining Data Publication: A Case Study in Upgrading DOI Services for Environmental Science

In today’s data-driven research landscape, ensuring that datasets are discoverable, reproducible, and properly attributed is essential. Assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) achieves this by providing each dataset with a unique and persistent identifier, empowering researchers to cite and link data with confidence and amplifying the impact of scientific research. The Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) data repository stores diverse Earth and environmental science data generated by projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. To ensure transparency and enable better data citation practices, the ESS-DIVE Digital Object Identifier (DOI) management tools allow users to reserve a DOI before a dataset is publicly released and automatically keep those DOI records in line with user-submitted metadata throughout the dataset review process, upon publication, and beyond. This ensures that researchers can cite their data in papers under review, even if the corresponding datasets have not yet been made publicly accessible. ESS-DIVE’s DOI tools leverage the DOE's OSTI Elink service to manage DOI records with DataCite. We recently performed a major upgrade of these tools to integrate with the latest version of OSTI Elink 2.0, which overhauled their existing infrastructure with modern web standards. This was a major, collaborative effort at modernizing the software infrastructure of ESS-DIVE in step with OSTI. The upgrade of the ESS-DIVE DOI management tools also contributed to advancing the underlying Metacat platform, which is used by many other DataONE projects as well, thus positively impacting the larger research community. This modernization effort demonstrates how RSEs can successfully navigate complex collaborations while maintaining service continuity. Through this process, we enhanced ESS-DIVE's capabilities while contributing to the broader research infrastructure through Metacat platform improvements, showcasing the multiplier effect of thoughtful RSE work across the scientific community.