Assigning primary and alias status

One way to resolve a conflict between two DOIs with identical metadata is to assign primary status to one of them and make the other one an alias. 

For example, if the metadata for 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 and 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674.2 are the same, you might assign make 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 primary. In this case, metadata queries that match both DOIs will resolve to 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674, and DOI queries for either 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674 or 10.1103/PhysRev.69.674.2 will return results.

You can assign primary status to DOIs in conflict one by one using the system interface, or you can assign primary or alias status to multiple DOIs by uploading a .txt file.

Assigning primary status from the system interface

To assign primary status to a DOI from the Conflict tab:

1. Log in to the Crossref system.
2. Click the Metadata Admin tab.
3. Click the Conflict tab, if necessary.
4. Enter either the submission ID, the conflict ID, or the DOI ID in the appropriate box.
5. Click Submit to see the DOIs associated with the conflict.
6. Select the DOI that you want to make primary.
7. Click Make Selected DOI Primary in All Conflicts.

If you make a mistake, you can undo it by returning to this page and clicking ' Unresolve All Conflicts'.

Assigning primary or alias status by uploading conflict management submissions

To assign primary or alias status to multiple DOIs by uploading a text file. The status you assign applies to all conflicts that involve the DOIs.

1. To assign DOIs primary status, create a .txt file with the header 'H:email={email address};op=primary' for example::
   
   H:email=your@email.address;op=primary
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90001-2
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90002-4
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90003-6
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90004-8
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90005-X
10.1016/0032-1028(80)90006-1
10.1016/0368-3281(63)90014-7

Use op=alias when the primary DOIs are not known. If there are more than two DOIs involved in the conflict, the operation is rejected because the system cannot determine which DOI to make primary.

2. Access the  Crossref system interface
3. Click the Submissions tab.
4. Click the Upload tab, if necessary.
5. Locate and select the metadata file.
6. Select Live.
7. Select Conflict Management.
8. Click Upload.

All the DOIs listed in the file will be assigned whichever status you specified in the op element. The Crossref system will send you a message like this one for an individual DOI:

<record_diagnostic doi="10.1088/0368-3281/5/6/313">
<conflict status="Success" ids="48983,49365,49783,50243,51067">
<msg>Marked as alias</msg>
<doi_list>
<doi>10.1016/0368-3281(63)90014-7</doi>
</doi_list>
</conflict>
</record_diagnostic>

or this one for multiple DOIs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<doi_batch_diagnostic>
<submission_id>1181263946</submission_id>
<record_diagnostic doi="10.5555/prime">
<conflict status="Success" ids="23135669,2311211">
<msg>Marked as alias</msg>
<doi_list>
<doi>10.5555/a1</doi>
<doi>10.5555/a2</doi>
</doi_list>
</conflict>
</record_diagnostic>
</doi_batch_diagnostic>