A study analyzing over seven million digital publications reveals that more than one-quarter of scholarly articles are not being adequately archived and preserved.

Published in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, the findings suggest that systems for preserving online papers have not kept pace with the growth of research output.

Digital object identifiers (DOIs), unique fingerprints used to identify and link specific publications, were used to check if 7,438,037 works were held in archives.

Despite having active DOIs, over two million articles (28%) did not appear in major digital archives, Nature.com reported.

The study highlights potential challenges in preserving scientific knowledge and the integrity of research.

Written by B.C. Begley