Yes, Your Personal Blog Posts Can Have DOIs—Here’s How and Why

Have you ever wanted your blog posts to be citable in academic papers? Good news: you can assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to your personal blog posts, making them permanent, trackable, and academically citable—just like journal articles.

What Is a DOI?

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to digital content. Unlike regular URLs that can break when websites change, a DOI always resolves to the content’s current location. You’ve likely seen DOIs in academic papers—they typically look like this:

https://doi.org/10.1234/example.5678

DOIs are the gold standard for citing digital scholarly work because they’re:

Permanent — The link never breaks
Unique — Each DOI points to exactly one piece of content
Trackable — Citation databases can track who cites your work
Credible — They signal that content is serious and intended to last

Why Would You Want a DOI for a Blog Post?

Here are compelling reasons to consider DOIs for your blog content:

1. Make Your Work Citable

If your blog post contains original research, methods, tutorials, or insights, others might want to cite it. A DOI makes this easy and proper. Instead of citing a URL that might break, researchers can cite a permanent identifier.

2. Get Credit for Your Work

When someone cites your DOI, it can be tracked by services like Google Scholar, Crossref, and other citation databases. This means your blog posts can contribute to your academic impact.

3. Preserve Your Content

Services that issue DOIs typically archive your content, ensuring it survives even if your personal website goes down.

4. Signal Seriousness

A DOI tells readers that you’ve taken steps to make your content permanent and citable—it adds credibility to your writing.

How to Get DOIs for Your Blog Posts

Several free services can help you get DOIs for your blog content:

Option 1: The Rogue Scholar (Recommended for Blogs)

The Rogue Scholar is specifically designed for science and academic blogs. It’s free and offers:

Automatic archiving of your blog posts
DOI assignment through Crossref
RSS feed integration (it can automatically process new posts)
Metadata extraction

How it works:

Register your blog at rogue-scholar.org
Provide your RSS feed URL
The service automatically archives posts and assigns DOIs
DOIs appear in the Rogue Scholar database

Option 2: Zenodo

Zenodo is a general-purpose open repository backed by CERN. It’s free and accepts any research output, including blog posts.

How it works:

Create a free account at zenodo.org
Click “New Upload”
Upload your blog post as a PDF or text file
Fill in the metadata (title, author, date, description)
Publish—Zenodo automatically assigns a DOI

Option 3: Figshare

Figshare is similar to Zenodo and offers free DOIs for research content.

How it works:

Create a free account at figshare.com
Upload your content
Add metadata
Publish to receive a DOI

Option 4: OSF (Open Science Framework)

OSF is a research management platform that can also issue DOIs for uploaded content.

Adding DOIs to Your Quarto Blog

Once you have a DOI, you can add it to your Quarto blog post’s YAML front matter:

---
title: "Your Blog Post Title"
date: 2026-02-06
doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1234567
citation: true
---

The citation: true option tells Quarto to generate a citation block at the bottom of your post, making it easy for readers to copy the proper citation.

Comparison of DOI Services

Service	Best For	Cost	Auto-Archive	Citation Tracking
Rogue Scholar	Science blogs	Free	Yes (via RSS)	Yes (Crossref)
Zenodo	Any content	Free	No (manual)	Yes
Figshare	Any content	Free	No (manual)	Yes
OSF	Research projects	Free	No (manual)	Yes

Best Practices

When to Use DOIs

Not every blog post needs a DOI. Consider getting one when your post:

Contains original research or analysis
Describes a new method or approach
Provides a comprehensive tutorial others might cite
Presents data or findings worth preserving
Is something you want permanently archived

When NOT to Use DOIs

Skip the DOI for:

Quick personal updates
Opinion pieces you might revise significantly
Time-sensitive content that will become outdated
Posts that link heavily to external resources that might change

Real-World Example

Many academic bloggers use DOIs. For instance, posts on R-bloggers contributors’ sites often have DOIs through Rogue Scholar. Data science tutorials, statistical methods explanations, and research summaries all benefit from permanent identifiers.

Summary

Getting DOIs for your blog posts is:

Free — Multiple services offer this at no cost
Easy — Most services just need your RSS feed or a file upload
Valuable — Makes your work citable, trackable, and permanent

If you’re writing substantive content that others might want to cite, consider making it DOI-able. Your future citations will thank you!

Quick Start

The fastest way to get started is The Rogue Scholar—just register your blog’s RSS feed and it handles the rest automatically.

Citation

BibTeX citation:

@online{abdus_samad2026,
  author = {Abdus Samad, Md},
  title = {Yes, {Your} {Personal} {Blog} {Posts} {Can} {Have}
    {DOIs—Here’s} {How} and {Why}},
  date = {2026-02-06},
  url = {https://www.drabdus.com/blog/2026/02/06/blog-posts-can-have-doi/},
  langid = {en}
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

Abdus Samad, Md. 2026. “Yes, Your Personal Blog Posts Can Have DOIs—Here’s How and Why.” February 6, 2026. https://www.drabdus.com/blog/2026/02/06/blog-posts-can-have-doi/.

--- title: "Yes, Your Personal Blog Posts Can Have DOIs—Here's How and Why" date: 2026-02-06 description: "Learn how to make your blog posts citable with permanent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) using free services like Rogue Scholar and Zenodo." categories: - research - academic writing - blogging - doi - open science citation: true --- **Have you ever wanted your blog posts to be citable in academic papers?** Good news: you can assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to your personal blog posts, making them permanent, trackable, and academically citable—just like journal articles. ## What Is a DOI? A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to digital content. Unlike regular URLs that can break when websites change, a DOI always resolves to the content's current location. You've likely seen DOIs in academic papers—they typically look like this: ``` https://doi.org/10.1234/example.5678 ``` DOIs are the gold standard for citing digital scholarly work because they're: - **Permanent** — The link never breaks - **Unique** — Each DOI points to exactly one piece of content - **Trackable** — Citation databases can track who cites your work - **Credible** — They signal that content is serious and intended to last ## Why Would You Want a DOI for a Blog Post? Here are compelling reasons to consider DOIs for your blog content: ### 1. Make Your Work Citable If your blog post contains original research, methods, tutorials, or insights, others might want to cite it. A DOI makes this easy and proper. Instead of citing a URL that might break, researchers can cite a permanent identifier. ### 2. Get Credit for Your Work When someone cites your DOI, it can be tracked by services like Google Scholar, Crossref, and other citation databases. This means your blog posts can contribute to your academic impact. ### 3. Preserve Your Content Services that issue DOIs typically archive your content, ensuring it survives even if your personal website goes down. ### 4. Signal Seriousness A DOI tells readers that you've taken steps to make your content permanent and citable—it adds credibility to your writing. ## How to Get DOIs for Your Blog Posts Several free services can help you get DOIs for your blog content: ### Option 1: The Rogue Scholar (Recommended for Blogs) [The Rogue Scholar](https://rogue-scholar.org/) is specifically designed for science and academic blogs. It's free and offers: - Automatic archiving of your blog posts - DOI assignment through Crossref - RSS feed integration (it can automatically process new posts) - Metadata extraction **How it works:** 1. Register your blog at [rogue-scholar.org](https://rogue-scholar.org/) 2. Provide your RSS feed URL 3. The service automatically archives posts and assigns DOIs 4. DOIs appear in the Rogue Scholar database ### Option 2: Zenodo [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/) is a general-purpose open repository backed by CERN. It's free and accepts any research output, including blog posts. **How it works:** 1. Create a free account at [zenodo.org](https://zenodo.org/) 2. Click "New Upload" 3. Upload your blog post as a PDF or text file 4. Fill in the metadata (title, author, date, description) 5. Publish—Zenodo automatically assigns a DOI ### Option 3: Figshare [Figshare](https://figshare.com/) is similar to Zenodo and offers free DOIs for research content. **How it works:** 1. Create a free account at [figshare.com](https://figshare.com/) 2. Upload your content 3. Add metadata 4. Publish to receive a DOI ### Option 4: OSF (Open Science Framework) [OSF](https://osf.io/) is a research management platform that can also issue DOIs for uploaded content. ## Adding DOIs to Your Quarto Blog Once you have a DOI, you can add it to your Quarto blog post's YAML front matter: ```yaml --- title: "Your Blog Post Title" date: 2026-02-06 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1234567 citation: true --- ``` The `citation: true` option tells Quarto to generate a citation block at the bottom of your post, making it easy for readers to copy the proper citation. ## Comparison of DOI Services | Service | Best For | Cost | Auto-Archive | Citation Tracking | |---------|----------|------|--------------|-------------------| | **Rogue Scholar** | Science blogs | Free | Yes (via RSS) | Yes (Crossref) | | **Zenodo** | Any content | Free | No (manual) | Yes | | **Figshare** | Any content | Free | No (manual) | Yes | | **OSF** | Research projects | Free | No (manual) | Yes | ## Best Practices ### When to Use DOIs Not every blog post needs a DOI. Consider getting one when your post: - Contains **original research** or analysis - Describes a **new method** or approach - Provides a **comprehensive tutorial** others might cite - Presents **data** or **findings** worth preserving - Is something you want **permanently archived** ### When NOT to Use DOIs Skip the DOI for: - Quick personal updates - Opinion pieces you might revise significantly - Time-sensitive content that will become outdated - Posts that link heavily to external resources that might change ## Real-World Example Many academic bloggers use DOIs. For instance, posts on [R-bloggers](https://www.r-bloggers.com/) contributors' sites often have DOIs through Rogue Scholar. Data science tutorials, statistical methods explanations, and research summaries all benefit from permanent identifiers. ## Summary Getting DOIs for your blog posts is: - **Free** — Multiple services offer this at no cost - **Easy** — Most services just need your RSS feed or a file upload - **Valuable** — Makes your work citable, trackable, and permanent If you're writing substantive content that others might want to cite, consider making it DOI-able. Your future citations will thank you! ::: {.callout-tip} ## Quick Start The fastest way to get started is [The Rogue Scholar](https://rogue-scholar.org/)—just register your blog's RSS feed and it handles the rest automatically. ::: ::: {.callout-note} ## Further Reading - [Rogue Scholar Documentation](https://docs.rogue-scholar.org/) - [Zenodo FAQ](https://help.zenodo.org/) - [Crossref DOI Registration](https://www.crossref.org/) - [DOI Handbook](https://www.doi.org/doi-handbook/HTML/) :::