Docs

OpenURL

An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website. OpenURLs are similar to permalinks because they are permanently connected to a resource, regardless of which website the resource is located at. (Retrieved from Wikipedia.)

The resource is retrieved using a structured URL format.

On DOAJ, the parameters included in the request are passed to our search interface, which provides the top result. This means that using OpenURL isn't guaranteed to find your result 100% of the time, even if it exists.

Parameter mapping

Here is the mapping between OpenURL parameters and our Elasticsearch database fields.

Journal

Parameter Elasticsearch field
jtitle index.title.exact
stitle bibjson.alternative_title.exact
issn index.issn.exact
eissn index.issn.exact
isbn index.title.exact

Article

Parameter Elasticsearch field
aulast bibjson.author.name.exact
aucorp bibjson.author.affiliation.exact
atitle bibjson.title.exact
jtitle bibjson.journal.title.exact
date bibjson.year.exact
volume bibjson.journal.volume.exact
issue bibjson.journal.number.exact
spage bibjson.start_page.exact
epage bibjson.end_page.exact
issn index.issn.exact
eissn index.issn.exact
isbn index.title.exact
doi index.doi.exact

Improving results

There are a few things you can try if you keep seeing the Not Found page or getting the wrong result:

Troubleshooting tip Details
Use a trustworthy field Identifiers like issn are more reliable than free text like jtitle.
Make sure each parameter is correct Ensure there are no typos or strange formatting and that the parameter labels are correct.
Reduce constraints for article searches Remove some parameters, like 'volume' or 'issue', because these may not be present in our index.
Improve article search accuracy by using genre=article URLs without this parameter will be directed to the journal page.
Use OpenURL 1.0 This will remove the rewriting step from the process (see below).

Supported OpenURL version

DOAJ prefers to receive OpenURL 1.0 requests. However, if the old "0.1" syntax is used, the DOAJ will rewrite it to the new syntax and try again. You will see a redirect to an OpenURL 1.0 URL and then the result.