Service providers

Crossref service providers are organisations that develop and manage technical tools for content registration, working collaboratively with us and with Crossref members to help support member obligations and best practices such as providing key metadata represented in Participation Reports. Members looking for advice on how to evaluate service providers can consult guidance on working with a service provider in our documentation.

Organisations eligible for the Service Providers Program include:

• Hosting and publishing platforms
• Manuscript submission systems
• Grant management systems
• Workflow and infrastructure providers

The program is designed to support the registration and maintenance of high-quality and rich metadata, thereby contributing to a more connected and complete research nexus. To achieve this, we have developed two service provider tiers. The Basic tier reflects that participants in the program are able to provide members with core metadata support, while the Advanced tier includes participants who can provide all the capabilities of the Basic tier plus additional features that enable even richer metadata support for Crossref members.

Note that the Service Providers Program is separate from the Sponsors Program, which is for organisations that make membership and participation in Crossref more accessible.

Current accredited service providers

Advanced tier

Basic tier

About the Service Providers Program

Benefits

Organisations participating in the Service Providers Program will be listed on our website and, in turn, will receive a badge to use on their website signalling their participation in our Service Providers Program. Your organisation will also receive advance communication about relevant Crossref updates and any changes to our schema. You will also receive access to our test systems for integration testing, and have opportunities to provide us with feedback on services, workflows and other developments.

Commitments

By participating in the program, participants will commit to making an effort to stay up to date with Crossref services and policies and share information about their client service offerings and workflows, including metadata delivery options. Similarly, participants will commit to creating and maintaining test accounts for Crossref to facilitate efficient member support.

It is expected that service providers on our program will promote metadata best practices as represented in our Participation Reports, ensure that their clients’ content and landing pages are maintained and actively resolving, and make reasonable efforts to accommodate services and schema changes.

The application and accreditation process

Applications to join the program are open and will be reviewed on a continuous basis. After completing the form below, you will be invited to an accreditation call which will involve demonstrations of the required functionality. This will help us assess which of the requirements your organisation is able to meet, and which tier would be most suitable.

We recommend reviewing the questions to ensure that the appropriate technical and operational requirements can be met before beginning the application. If you require clarification on any of these questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Basic Tier requirements and questions

• Enable Crossref members to register content and deposit required metadata, as per Crossref’s required, recommended and optional metadata.
• Ability to support and display multiple client prefixes.
• Ensure continuous resolution of clients’ DOIs following platform migrations.
• Demonstrate a history of providing active platform support to members.
• Comply with the display guidelines for Crossref DOIs
• Maintain communication channels with Crossref and/or participate in trainings.
• Notify Crossref when large-scale metadata updates are planned (i.e. when you are aware of daily updates exceeding 500,000 DOIs updated by a single client (Crossref member)).
• Use Crossref members’ credentials to register content on their behalf.
• Follow industry best practices for credentials security and account protection.

Advanced Tier requirements and questions

In addition to meeting all the Basic Tier requirements, applicants must confirm whether they:

• Provide alternative metadata delivery options.
• Support recommended and optional metadata elements.
• Support latest schema versions (5.3.1 and above).

Each participant in the program will be required to renew their accreditation at the beginning of each calendar year starting in 2028. This will be done through the submission of a re-accreditation form which may include new requirements such as support for a new schema version. You are invited to complete the application form below to be considered for the program.