DOIs for updating databases?

Questions
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Hi all,
My team has recently taken on managing DOI requests, and we’ve been asked to provide single DOI for a whole database About - Climate Change Laws of the World
This is an updating database, so not a static resource. I understand that laws and policies are added to the database on quite a regular basis but that the homepage itself https://climate-laws.org/ is just updated occasionally if the featured content publications are changed.

I can’t see database as a resource type in the DataCite metadata schema. And as it is an updating resource that seems to suggest it’s not suitable for a DOI.
But I believe a DOI can go to a webpage to represent a resource… so am wondering if that means we can create a DOI which goes to the home or about page (despite the changes to ‘featured content’… would that require new DOIs for each version?)

If anyone is able to help me understand more about DOIs and databases or provide some advice I’d be really appreciative. I have permission to share the link to the database to ask for your advice!

Best wishes
Helen

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For the resourceTypeGeneral, I think you could select “Dataset”, “Collection”, or “Other”, and then specify the resourceType (free text) as “Database”.

The fact that it is a continuously updated resource isn’t an issue for assigning a DOI to the entire resource. I recommend including the last updated date in the metadata (Date with dateType=“Updated”).

When users cite this DOI, they should include an access date/time. We have some guidance on this in the schema documentation: https://schema.datacite.org/meta/kernel-4.4/doc/DataCite-MetadataKernel_v4.4.pdf on page 11—option C.

There are also approaches like creating DOIs for subsets, or snapshots of a dynamic dataset in time. You can use these in conjunction with having a DOI for the updating resource—for example, you could create a new version every time it updates.

Here are the recommendations from the RDA Working Group on Dynamic Data Citation: Identification of Reproducible Subsets for Data Citation, Sharing and Re-Use | Zenodo

There is also this article providing an overview of the recommendations and some implementations: Precisely and Persistently Identifying and Citing Arbitrary Subsets of Dynamic Data · Issue 3.4, Fall 2021

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Thanks for responding @KellyStathis - this is all really helpful information and I’m just reading through the links. I’ll discuss with a colleague tomorrow to see how we can apply this to our situation. Thanks again!

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While DOIs are often associated with static resources like journal articles or datasets with fixed content, they can also be used for dynamic resources like databases. The key is to ensure that the DOI resolves to a landing page that provides access to the most up-to-date version of the database. It’s possible to assign a DOI to the homepage or about page of the database. This is a common approach for dynamic resources where the homepage serves as a gateway to the database’s content. Users can then navigate the database from there. However, it’s important to ensure that the homepage remains stable and provides ongoing access after doing Hubspot contact enrichment. If significant changes are made to the database structure or content over time, it may be necessary to assign new DOIs to different versions. This ensures that users can access specific versions of the database if needed. However, if changes are minor and the homepage remains the primary access point, updating the existing DOI may be sufficient.

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