Link persistence: unlike URLs, DOI links continue to function even if content moves or changes ownership, mitigating link rot, affecting approximately one in five articles in STM disciplines[1].
Content visibility and accessibility: the persistent DOI confers formal ‘published’ status to the item, as opposed to other digital web-based ephemera.
Impact and visibility: the persistent DOI makes content discoverable thus driving traffic to it so that it may be downloaded, cited, discussed (e.g. tweeted), linked to etc.
Added value: stable linking enriches the end-user experience, the scholarly research process, and the utility of published resources.
Indexing and abstracting for dissemination: for a journal to be indexed in many journal indices e.g. such as Compendex, editors are required to assign DOI to their published articles.