Patenting an invention and making it visible in the research community at the same time used to be no easy task. To address this, the Austrian Patent Office now offers a new service: assigning DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) to published patent applications and patent specifications. This makes patents part of the international digital knowledge infrastructure – easy to find, citable in academic work, and permanently on record.
What is a DOI?
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, permanent identifier for digital resources. Unlike the patent number, which serves as legal identification, a DOI creates a digital reference that works across systems. It points to a landing page with all the relevant metadata, making your patent discoverable in academic databases and reference management tools – from DataCite and Google Scholar to the research databases of Austria's universities.
This service is aimed primarily at universities and research institutions. All applicants and holders of published patent applications or patent specifications are eligible to apply. Assigning a DOI is free of charge.
Would you like a DOI for your patent? Just send our library an email: bibliothek[at]patentamt.at. We'll send you the application form and take care of the rest.