Stop Wrestling with CrossRef XML: Register DOIs with Confidence

Have you lost sleep wondering if your CrossRef XML will validate successfully? You're not alone. The complexity of the CrossRef schema creates a real technical barrier—small publishers, repositories, and other infrastructure developers may delay or abandon DOI registration because the XML can feel fragile to get right. Worse, once it works, it is left alone until it breaks. In this session you'll discover how a hand-curated Rust library starts to address this barrier, so you can focus on research content instead of schema quirks. You'll see live examples from ResearchEquals, where this tool powers confident DOI registration daily. After this session you will: * Understand why auto-generating XML from XSD schemas often fails * Know how to integrate validation-first tooling into your workflow Whether you're a developer, repository manager, or PID enthusiast, you'll leave with practical insights you can apply immediately. This abstract is submitted to [PIDFest 2026](https://www.pidfest.org/pidfest-2026) as a short presentation. If accepted, I will follow up with the actual presentation and maybe a recording, if available. The event takes place in Leiden (NLD), 27-29.10.2026.