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DataCite is a cross-repository registry of DOIs — tens of millions of them, several million describing datasets. Dataerai can search DataCite, scoped to datasets, and import results into one of your projects as metadata-first assets: the title, DOI, type, authors, and publication date are copied into Dataerai so they’re searchable and shareable alongside your own data. DataCite is a discovery index, not a file store, so a DataCite import works differently from a single-repository import like Zenodo:
DataCite holds no files. Each DOI describes a dataset published somewhere else — Zenodo, Dryad, Figshare, an institutional archive — and records that dataset’s landing page. So each imported asset is a single link-out to the landing page, not a set of downloadable files. Nothing is stored in your Dataerai allocation, so importing doesn’t consume your quota.

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Search DataCite

Open the Import from DataCite page, type a query, and click Search.
  • The search is scoped to datasets. Enter free text (for example microscopy, climate, or genome assembly); there’s no default query, so nothing runs until you search.
  • Results show Title, Type, and DOI, with the DOI and publication date under each title.
  • Use Per page (25, 100, 500, or 1000) to trade clicks for latency. DataCite’s public API is rate-limited, so larger page sizes take longer.
  • The result count and page X of Y are shown above the table, with Previous / Next to move between pages.
Import from DataCite

Search the DataCite DOI registry and import records as metadata-only assets that link out to their source repository.

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Select and import

1

Select datasets

Tick the rows you want — click a row, or press Space or Enter on it, to toggle its checkbox. The header checkbox selects or clears everything on the current page; your selection is kept as you page through results.
2

Choose the destination project

Paste the UUID of the project that should own the new assets into the Import into project field.
3

Import

Click Import. Large selections are sent in batches automatically, and a single Import result panel summarizes how many datasets were imported (and how many new assets were created), plus any that failed and why.

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The same dataset can appear under more than one source

Because DataCite spans many repositories, a dataset you could also import from Zenodo, Dryad, or Figshare also surfaces here under its DOI — those repositories register their DOIs with DataCite.
  • Within DataCite, re-importing the same DOI into a project is deduplicated — you won’t get a duplicate asset.
  • Across sources, the same dataset imported two ways stays two assets. Importing a DOI from the DataCite page gives you a landing-page link-out; importing the same dataset from its native Zenodo or Dryad page gives you that repository’s view of the files. They aren’t merged. DataCite’s value is discovery breadth — finding the DOI no matter who hosts it — so use it to find datasets across repositories, and import from a dataset’s native source when you want that repository’s file-level view.
Because imported assets point at the dataset’s landing page rather than your own storage, they’re only useful while that landing page resolves. If you need a durable copy under your control, follow the DOI to the source, download the files, and upload them as a regular asset instead.

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Next steps

Metadata-first assets

How assets that describe data elsewhere work in Dataerai.

Import from Zenodo

Import a single repository’s records with their files.

Search & discover

Find imported datasets by title, type, creator, and metadata.

Sharing & permissions

Decide who can see the datasets you import.