DOI to OSCOLA Citation Converter

What is a DOI?

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent identifier assigned to a journal article, book chapter, dataset, or other scholarly work. It starts with 10. followed by a publisher prefix and a document suffix – for example, 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2. Unlike a regular URL, a DOI never changes: the registration agency keeps it pointing at the work even when the publisher moves its website. That permanence is what makes a DOI the best possible input for a citation generator. When you paste a DOI into CiteTools, we query CrossRef – the largest DOI registration agency – for the article’s authoritative metadata: authors, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, and publication date. The citation is built from the publisher’s own record, not from text scraped off a web page, so author order, page ranges, and dates come out right.

How the DOI to OSCOLA conversion works

1. Paste a DOI such as 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2 into the input field – the bare identifier and the full https://doi.org URL both work.
2. CiteTools fetches the article’s metadata from CrossRef and validates the record.
3. Copy the formatted citation, or switch styles and export formats without re-entering the DOI.

Example input:

10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2

About OSCOLA

Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities - used in UK law schools and legal journals.

OSCOLA, the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, is the footnote system of UK law schools. A bibliography entry gives the surname and the initials, then the title in single quotation marks. The year in round brackets, the volume, the journal, and the first page follow. CiteTools writes a full note and a short note for a source, and never ibid. The short note always reads (n 1), so change the 1 to the number of the note that holds the full citation. It cites books, articles, chapters, and web pages, and leaves cases and legislation to you.

Frequently asked questions