Membership and Service Fees

Our membership model is designed to lower barriers to participation while supporting shared open infrastructure for research organizations globally. 

While DataCite metadata and metadata retrieval tools are freely and openly available to anyone to access and use, membership fees allow organizations to benefit from additional member-only services and to participate in DataCite governance. 

Member organizations pay an annual fee for participation in the DataCite association. This fee is paid by an individual institutional member or by a consortium member representing a group of organizations. Members using DataCite services such as DOI registration and metadata management pay an additional shared infrastructure fee that is adjusted for different socioeconomic contexts. 

DataCite does not charge per-DOI fees or fees based on DOI quantities with the exception of cases where an organization is registering more than 100,000 DOIs in a calendar year. See below for more details.

As a community-governed organization, DataCite’s membership at large (General Assembly) and Executive Board are responsible for approving membership fees and other service costs according to our statutes. The General Assembly approves association membership fees and the Board approves additional fees in consultation with members.

Fee Structure by Membership Type

Organization Type	Membership Category	Membership Fee (EUR)	Shared Infrastructure Fee (EUR)
Individual institution	Institutional Member (Direct / Supporting)	2,000 annually	200–700 annually (only applies to members using infrastructure services)
Organization responsible for a consortium (region- or service-based)	Consortium Member	2,000 annually	200–700 annually
Organization participating in a consortium	Consortium Organization	0 annually	200–700 annually per organization

Other Fees

High-volume DOI registrations

The shared infrastructure fee includes the ability for a member organization to register DOIs for up to 100,000 outputs annually (calendar year). If an organization exceeds 100,000 DOIs annually, an additional fee will be assessed to help cover the costs of ongoing infrastructure support and stability as our data stores grow. 

DOIs registered annually	Additional infrastructure fee (EUR)
100,001–250,000	3,500
250,001–1,000,000	8,500
1,000,001–2,000,000	13,000
2,000,001–5,000,000	18,500
5,000,001–10,000,000	25,500
10,000,001–20,000,000	32,500

For-profit organizations

For-profit member organizations are subject to an increased open infrastructure fee structure. The for-profit fee structure is based on the member organization’s annual revenue, which is provided to DataCite during the application process. The fee structure is the same across all for-profit organizations regardless of geographic location. 

Annual revenue (EUR)	Shared infrastructure fee (EUR)
0–500,000	1,000
500,001–2,000,000	2,500
2,000,001–50,000,000	5,000
50,000,001–1,000,000,000	7,500
>1,000,000,000	10,000

Additional infrastructure contributions

Any organization, whether a DataCite member or non-member, can contribute funds to support DataCite’s ongoing shared infrastructure costs and global access programs. Contributions of any amount are welcome. 

You can contribute additional funds to DataCite as part of an annual member invoice or on an ad hoc basis. Contact info@datacite.org to make a contribution. 

Invoicing and Billing Process

DataCite invoices annually at the beginning of the calendar year. For members that join DataCite during the calendar year, billing starts on the first day of the month after you join. Your first calendar year is charged according to the quarter in which billing begins: Q1 = 100%, Q2 = 75%, Q3 = 50%, and Q4 = 25%. From the next calendar year, the full annual fee applies.

Payments are due in 30 days and can be made either via bank wire transfer, check, or credit card.

In case undisputed fee payments are late more than ninety (90) days, member accounts will become temporarily inactive until the payments are made.