DataCite - Fee Model 2023
Fee Structure
Membership Fee
DataCite's strength is rooted in its active membership. Our global community of like-minded organizational members includes data centers, libraries, government agencies, research institutions and more. Members are the voting body of the organization and establish our vision and strategy, set our fee structure, and vote or stand for our Executive Board. Membership is open to all organizations that share our research sharing mission. Membership fees support DataCite’s goal to enable the discovery and reuse of research outputs in a global transition to Open Science.
This fee applies to Direct Members, to a Consortium as a whole, and to Member-only organizations.
Service Fees
DataCite’s DOI Services are available to members for an additional service fee. Our robust infrastructure provides a simple and effective method of DOI creation and management; thereby enabling discovery, access, sharing, tracking, and citation. DataCite’s user-facing services: indexed content, help-desk, support site, and a metadata schema – support a range of diverse content types (data, text, images, software, workflows, and more).
Each Direct Member or Consortium Organization that makes use of DOI registration services will pay an annual service fee. This fee consists of two components: an Organization Fee and a tier based DOI Fee.
Organization Fee
The organization fee for non-profit organizations is 500€ per year. This fee includes all the repositories and prefixes needed by an organization to follow best practices.
DOI Fee
There are several tiers for the number of new DOIs registered annually. The tiers accommodate different types of organizations and align with the cost impact. The DOI fee is based on the total number of DOIs registered in the previous calendar year across all repositories of an organization. In the first year the DOI fee is based on an estimate of DOIs the organization is planning to register from the start date until December 31st.
| Annual DOI range | Tier | Organization Fee | DOI Fee | Annual Service Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 1.999 | Tier 1 | 500€ | 0,80€ per DOI | 500€ + 0,80€ per DOI |
| 2.000 - 10.000 | Tier 2 | 500€ | 1.600€ | 2.100€ |
| 10.001 - 100.000 | Tier 3 | 500€ | 2.500€ | 3.000€ |
| 100.001 - 250.000 | Tier 4 | 500€ | 3.500€ | 4.000€ |
| 250.001 - 1.000.000 | Tier 5 | 500€ | 8.500€ | 9.000€ |
| 1.000.001 - 2.000.000 | Tier 6 | 500€ | 13.000€ | 13.500€ |
| 2.000.001 - 5.000.000 | Tier 7 | 500€ | 18.500€ | 19.000€ |
| 5.000.001 - 10.000.000 | Tier 8 | 500€ | 25.500€ | 26.000€ |
Application of the Fee Structure
Direct Member
The following fees apply to Direct Members:
- Membership Fee:
- Annual Membership Fee: 2.000€
- Service Fees:
- Organization Fee: 500€
- DOI Fee: based on usage
Example: Direct member registering 1.000 DOIs
If a Direct Member registered 1.000 DOIs (across repositories) in the previous year, the total fees will be as follows:
| # DOIs | Annual Membership Fee |
Annual Service Fee (Organization Fee + DOI Fee) |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.000 | 2.000€ |
1.300€ 500€ + 800€ (1.000 DOIs x 0,80€) | 3.300€ |
Example: Direct member registering 200.000 DOIs
If a Direct Member registered 200.000 DOIs (across repositories) in the previous year, the total fees will be as follows:
| # DOIs | Annual Membership Fee |
Annual Service Fee (Organization Fee + DOI Fee) |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200.000 | 2.000€ |
4.000€ 500€ + 3.500€ (Tier 4) |
6.600€ |
Consortium
A consortium is a group of organizations within one region or discipline that have come together to collectively participate in DataCite’s community and governance activities and use DataCite’s DOI services. A consortium is composed of five or more organizations that are under different administrative structures.
The following fees apply to a consortium:
- Membership Fee: Each consortium pays a single Annual Membership Fee totaling 2.000€.
- Service Fees: For each consortium organization within the consortium, the consortium pays the Organization Fee and the DOI Fee.
Please note that consortium organizations that expect to register more than 10.000 DOIs annually should transfer to Direct Membership within the following calendar year, or pay the additional membership fee (2.000€ annually) while remaining part of the consortium. This ensures that there is appropriate cost recovery based on the impact of cost drivers.
Consortium fee caps
In order to support growing consortia and the adoption within communities, the total consortium service fee (organization + DOI fee) is capped based on the number of organizations. The total cap is calculated based on the total number of organizations within the consortium:
- 5-30 organizations: 1.000€ multiplied by total number of consortium organizations within the consortium
- 31-60 organizations: 700€ multiplied by total number of consortium organizations within the consortium
- 61-100 organizations: 600€ multiplied by total number of consortium organizations within the consortium
- 101+ organizations: 500€ multiplied by total number of consortium organizations within the consortium
Please note that when the fee cap applies, consortia will be invoiced for new consortium organizations in line with the fee cap and not based on individual estimates. The consortium fee caps do not apply to for-profit consortium organizations registering 2.000 or more DOIs annually.
Example: Consortium fee calculation
- Membership Fee: The Annual Membership Fee applies (2.000€).
- Service Fees: The example consortium has 5 organizations which registered the following number of DOIs in the previous year:
| Fee applied to | # DOIs | Annual Membership Fee |
Annual Service Fee Calculation (Organization Fee + DOI Fee) |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consortium | - | 2.000€ | - | 2.000€ |
| Consortium Organization 1 | 20 | - | 500€ + 16€ (20 x 0,80€) | 516€ |
| Consortium Organization 2 | 50 | - | 500€ + 40€ (50 x 0,80€) | 540€ |
| Consortium Organization 3 | 100 | - | 500€ + 80€ (100 x 0,80€) | 580€ |
| Consortium Organization 4 | 200 | - | 500€ + 160€ (200 x 0,80€) | 660€ |
| Consortium Organization 5 | 2500 | - | 500€ + 1.600€ (Tier 2) | 2.100€ |
| Total | - | 2.000€ | 4.396€ | 6.396€ |
The total membership and service fees in this example are 6.396€, calculated as follows:
- Membership Fee: 2.000€
- Annual Membership Fee: 2.000€
- Service Fees: 4.396€
- See Annual Service Fee Calculation above. In this example, the Service Fees (4.396€) are less than the applicable service fee cap of 5.000€ (5 x 1.000€).
Example: Consortium fee calculation with fee cap applied
- Membership Fee: The Annual Membership Fee applies (2.000€).
- Service Fees: The example consortium has 5 organizations which registered the following number of DOIs in the previous year:
| Fee applied to | # DOIs | Annual Membership Fee |
Annual Service Fee Calculation (Organization Fee + DOI Fee) |
Total without fee cap | Total with fee cap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consortium | - | 2.000€ | - | 2.000€ | 2.000€ | |
| Consortium Organization 1 | 100 | - | 500€ + 80€ (100 x 0,80€) | 580€ | - | |
| Consortium Organization 2 | 1000 | - | 500€ + 800€ (1000 x 0,80€) | 1.300€ | - | |
| Consortium Organization 3 | 1000 | - | 500€ + 800€ (1000 x 0,80€) | 1.300€ | - | |
| Consortium Organization 4 | 1500 | - | 500€ + 1.200€ (1500 x 0,80€) | 1.700€ | - | |
| Consortium Organization 5 | 3000 | - | 500€ + 1.600€ (Tier 2) | 2.100€ | - | |
|
Service Fee (total from all Consortium Organizations) |
- | - | - | 6.980€ | 5.000€ (5 x 1.000€) | - |
| Total | - | 2.000€ | - | 8.980€ | 7.000€ |
The total membership and service fees in this example are 7.000€, calculated as follows:
- Membership Fee: 2.000€
- Annual Membership Fee: 2.000€
- Service Fees: 5.000€
- In this example, the calculated Service Fees exceeded the applicable fee cap of 5.000€ (5 x 1.000€), so the fee cap is applied.
Multiplier for For‐profit Organizations
In the case of for-profit organizations, a multiplier based on annual total revenue is applied to the organization fee (500€). For example, if the company’s annual revenue equals 20 million, the organization fee would be 5.000€ (500€ x 10).
| Revenue | Multiplier | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 0-500.000€ | 2 | Micro |
| 500.001€ - 2.000.000€ | 5 | Small |
| 2.000.001€ - 50.000.000€ | 10 | Medium |
| 50.000,001€ - 1.000.000.000€ | 15 | Large |
| 1.000.000.000€ | 20 | Extra Large |
For-profit organizations can join a consortium as a Consortium Organization or they can lead a consortium when needed. In this case, the for-profit multiplier based on revenue is applied to the organization fee for the Consortium Organization.
Payment Methods and Billing Cycle
DataCite invoices annually at the beginning of the calendar year.
Direct Members that join DataCite during the calendar year will be invoiced, in the month after they joined, pro-rated fees based on the month joined. The DOI fee will be billed based on their DOI estimate for the first year. There will be no credit if they register less nor an additional charge if they register more DOIs.
Consortium Members that join DataCite during the calendar year will be invoiced, in the month after they joined, pro-rated fees based on the month joined. When Consortium Organizations are added during the calendar year, the Consortium Member will be invoiced, in the month after the Consortium Organizations joined, pro-rated fees based on the month joined. The DOI fee will be billed based on each Consortium Organization’s DOI estimate for the first year. There will be no credit if a Consortium Organization registers fewer DOIs than estimated, nor an additional charge if they register more DOIs. There is no refund if a Consortium Organization leaves the Consortium during the year. For Consortia where the fee cap applies, the invoice will be based on the relevant fee cap.
Payments can be made either via bank wire transfer, check or credit card.
In case undisputed fee payments are late more than ninety (90) days, repository accounts will become temporarily inactive until the payments are made.