Who can join
We support all types of Canadian institutions and organizations promoting DataCite among scholars and registering DataCite digital object identifier (DOIs) for a wide variety of scholarly outputs, though only non-profits and public organizations can join the consortium. Membership to the DataCite Canada Consortium is open to all Canadian institutions of post-secondary non-profit organizations, and government research, and funding agencies.
Membership Fees
The DataCite Canada Consortium is sustained through institutional membership and funding from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) to offset member fees. The DataCite Canda Consortium currently has 82 members, which means that it is situated at the 600 € per member fee tier (between 61 and 101 members). There are two fees associated with DataCite Canada membership: the annual membership fee (covered by funds from the Alliance) and the annual organization and DOI usage fee (600€ per member substantially offset by funding from the Alliance). Please note that funding from the Alliance is not guaranteed beyond 2025, so member fees could change in future years.
For all new members to DataCite Canada, the fees are based on the previous year’s DOI registration. We ask new members to estimate which tier would best correspond to their institutional needs. This estimate does not include a retroactive backlog. We recommend a conservative estimate to new members to keep the fee tier lower.
Please see the DataCite Canada Participation and Financial Agreement form for 2025 for more information on membership fees.
DOI Stewardship and DataCite Canada
For all new and returning DataCite Canada members, we want to highlight the terms and conditions of DataCite Canada membership, and, more specifically, the importance of long-term metadata stewardship for DOIs. To support a healthy consortium and broader persistent Identifier (PID) ecosystem, it is important to develop a stewardship plan for DOIs as well as a contingency for transferring your DOIs to another member institution should you no longer be able to sustain a membership.
Next Steps
Although the DataCite Canada Consortium license year follows the calendar year, new members are invited to join at any time and membership fees will be pro-rated accordingly. To join the DataCite Canada Consortium, all members must submit a completed and signed copy of the Participation and Financial Commitment Agreement to datacite@ckrn.ca.
For information or questions about membership, please contact datacite@crkn.ca.