Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A journal registers a DOI the day after its editor issues a formal acceptance decision, depositing only the required minimum (member name, journal title, accepted date, article title, and authors) so the work has a stable, citable DOI weeks or months before it appears online. When the article is later published, the journal updates the same DOI's record with the full journal-article metadata (volume, issue, page range, publication date); the DOI then resolves directly to the published article instead of Crossref's acceptance landing page.
- Is an instance
A researcher needs to cite a forthcoming paper in a grant report or another manuscript before it is publicly available. Because the paper already has a pending-publication DOI assigned at acceptance, they can cite a stable, resolvable identifier during the acceptance-to-publication gap instead of writing 'manuscript in preparation' or citing a non-resolvable placeholder.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A preprint posted to a preprint server before peer review, registered under Crossref's separate 'posted content' record type, is not a pending publication -- it has not been accepted by a journal, is not deposited by the eventual publisher, and keeps a permanently distinct DOI from whatever pending-publication or version-of-record DOI the journal later assigns. The two DOIs are connected through a Crossref relation type, not merged into a single record.
- Not an instance
A standard journal-article DOI registered at the point of online publication, carrying full bibliographic metadata (volume, issue, pagination) from the outset, is not a pending publication -- pending publication specifically describes the earlier, minimal-metadata registration made before that full publication record exists.
Editorial commentary
“Pending publication” is a Crossref record type that lets a publisher (a Crossref member) register a DOI and a minimal metadata record for a manuscript that has already cleared peer review and received a formal editorial acceptance decision, but has not yet been published online in its final form. Until the work is formally published, the DOI resolves to a Crossref-hosted landing page carrying an acceptance notice and the deposited minimal metadata — not to the article itself.
What the minimal record contains
At minimum, a pending-publication deposit includes the publishing member’s name, the journal title, the manuscript’s accepted date, the article title, and the author list. This is deliberately less than a full journal-article registration, which additionally requires volume, issue, page range, and a publication date — information that, by definition, doesn’t exist yet for a manuscript that has been accepted but not yet formally published.
What happens at publication
The publisher is expected to later update that same DOI’s metadata record to a full journal-article registration once the work is formally published, adding the volume/issue/pagination and publication date. Only then does the DOI resolve directly to the published content instead of Crossref’s interim acceptance landing page. The DOI itself does not change across this update — a citation made during the pending-publication window, using the same DOI, remains valid and resolvable after the record is updated.
Eligibility: what qualifies and what doesn’t
A record only qualifies as a pending publication if it was deposited by the eventual publisher for a manuscript that has already been formally accepted. Two adjacent cases are commonly confused with it:
- An unrefereed preprint posted before or during peer review is registered under Crossref’s separate “posted content” record type, not pending publication — it has not been accepted by a journal and is typically deposited by a preprint server, not the eventual publisher. A preprint’s DOI and a later pending-publication or version-of-record DOI for the same work stay permanently distinct records, connected through a Crossref relation type rather than merged.
- A manuscript still under review, with no acceptance decision yet issued, does not qualify — acceptance is the trigger, not submission.
Why it exists
The gap between a journal’s acceptance decision and a manuscript’s final online publication can run from weeks to several months. A pending-publication DOI gives that accepted-but-unpublished work a stable, citable identifier during the gap, so a researcher citing a forthcoming paper — in a grant report, another manuscript, or a CV — can point to a real, resolvable DOI rather than writing “manuscript in preparation” or citing a non-resolvable placeholder.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a pending-publication DOI change once the article is published?
No — the DOI itself stays the same. The publisher updates the metadata record behind that DOI to add full journal-article details (volume, issue, pages, publication date), and the DOI then resolves to the published article instead of the acceptance landing page.
Is a preprint the same as a Crossref pending publication?
No. A preprint is registered under Crossref’s separate “posted content” type and has not been through journal acceptance; a pending publication specifically covers manuscripts a journal has already formally accepted, deposited by that journal’s publisher.
Who can register a pending-publication DOI?
The eventual publisher of the accepted manuscript — a Crossref member depositing on behalf of a specific journal — not the author and not a third-party repository.
References
- Crossref, schema and content-registration documentation (crossref.org/documentation), covering content-type record types including pending publication and posted content.
Note: Crossref’s own documentation pages for this specific record type could not be independently re-fetched during this update (they returned a 404/blocked response); the description above reflects the record type’s documented purpose as corroborated elsewhere in Crossref’s schema-changelog materials. Readers relying on exact field-level requirements should confirm current specifics directly against crossref.org’s schema documentation.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Pending publication (Crossref)"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/pending-publication-crossref" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/pending-publication-crossref",
"name": "Pending publication (Crossref)",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/pending-publication-crossref",
"description": "A Crossref record type that lets a publisher (a Crossref member) register a DOI and a minimal metadata record -- at minimum the member name, journal title, and the manuscript's accepted date -- for a manuscript that has already cleared peer review and received a formal editorial acceptance decision, but has not yet been published online. Until the work is formally published, the DOI resolves to a Crossref-hosted landing page carrying an acceptance notice and the deposited metadata, not to the article itself. The publisher must later update that same DOI's metadata record to a full journal-article registration once the work is published; only then does the DOI resolve directly to the published content. A record qualifies as a pending publication only if it was deposited by the eventual publisher for an already-accepted manuscript -- an unrefereed preprint, or a manuscript still under review, does not qualify.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/persistent-identifiers#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/pending-publication-crossref",
"sameAs": [],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"dateModified": "2026-08-17T01:56:24",
"inLanguage": "en"
}
