# Can i lookup DOI using just the title and year of a journal article **URL:** \ **Category:** Interfaces for People\ **Tags:** rest-api, metadata-retrieval, simple\_text\_query, crmds\ **Created:** [8 January 2023 04:56 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237 "2023-01-08T04:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![merrittr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@merrittr](https://community.crossref.org/u/merrittr)\ **Post date:** [8 January 2023 04:56 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/1 "2023-01-08T04:56:57Z")
I have Title:Temporal variability in nutrient transport in a first-order agricultural basin in southern Ontario Year:2004 Author:Macrae, Merrin L. can I use the API to look this up ---
**Author:** ![pdavis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/pdavis/32/981_2.png) [@pdavis](https://community.crossref.org/u/pdavis)\ **Post date:** [9 January 2023 17:01 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/2 "2023-01-09T17:01:40Z")
Hello @merrittr, Many thanks for your post. You can use our search tool [https://search.crossref.org/](https://search.crossref.org/) to lookup titles and DOIs in our system. This is built upon our REST API so it would be searching against that. You can also search using the API using queries like `query.bibliographic` or if you were just searching on a title you would use `query.title`. You could use query URLs like: [https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario](https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario) I also tried: [https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario&query.bibliographic=2004,Macrae,%20Merrin%20L.&select=title&rows=1000](https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario&query.bibliographic=2004,Macrae,%20Merrin%20L.&select=title&rows=1000) I don’t see any matching results coming up, do you know if a DOI has been registered for this piece of work? Thank you, Paul ---
**Author:** ![ifarley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/ifarley/32/44_2.png) [@ifarley](https://community.crossref.org/u/ifarley)\ **Post date:** [9 January 2023 17:19 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/3 "2023-01-09T17:19:51Z")
> [@merrittr](#): > > Title:Temporal variability in nutrient transport in a first-order agricultural basin in southern Ontario > Year:2004 > Author:Macrae, Merrin L. Agreed @pdavis . I don’t think a DOI has been registered with us that matches this metadata. Getting similar results from our [Simple Text Query form](https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/) when searching for: `Macrae, Merrin L, Temporal variability in nutrient transport in a first-order agricultural basin in southern Ontario, 2004.` ![Screenshot 2023-01-09 at 11.18.11 AM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/crossref/original/1X/aa47622795bf0c47769061a2a16f644befc82e83.png) -Isaac ---
**Author:** ![merrittr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@merrittr](https://community.crossref.org/u/merrittr)\ **Post date:** [9 January 2023 18:45 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/4 "2023-01-09T18:45:44Z")
Oh I see , when it returned 100s of entries I thought I just wasnt being specific enough? Wouldnt it be better to return 0 records if there is no matching? How do I know if there is nom DOI registerd? ---
**Author:** ![ifarley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/ifarley/32/44_2.png) [@ifarley](https://community.crossref.org/u/ifarley)\ **Post date:** [18 January 2023 16:04 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/6 "2023-01-18T16:04:41Z")
Hi @merrittr , Thanks for following up. > Oh I see , when it returned 100s of entries I thought I just wasnt being specific enough? Wouldnt it be better to return 0 records if there is no matching? Not exactly, since that’s not the only use case for the REST API. We’re returning the results with the most relevance in the REST API. From there, we allow metadata users to determine if that relevance matches their expectations. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does not. If you are looking for a definitive match, the Simple Text Query form is designed for that type of querying: [Simple Text Query form](https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/). You can see from my screenshot above that no DOI was returned for: `Macrae, Merrin L, Temporal variability in nutrient transport in a first-order agricultural basin in southern Ontario, 2004`, which means that for the metadata entered into the form, we do not have a matching record registered with us. If you’re looking to match a reference list to a definitive DOI, I suggest using the Simple Text Query form. -Isaac ---
**Author:** ![merrittr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@merrittr](https://community.crossref.org/u/merrittr)\ **Post date:** [19 January 2023 12:33 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/7 "2023-01-19T12:33:34Z")
is there an API cal I can use I am trying to automate this ---
**Author:** ![ifarley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/ifarley/32/44_2.png) [@ifarley](https://community.crossref.org/u/ifarley)\ **Post date:** [19 January 2023 22:40 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/8 "2023-01-19T22:40:45Z")
Hi @merrittr , The Simple Text Query form is not meant to be an API. You could use our REST API to do this and just analyze the top result you receive back, like this: [https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario&query.bibliographic=2004,Macrae,%20Merrin%20L.&select=title,DOI&rows=1](https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title=Temporal%20variability%20in%20nutrient%20transport%20in%20a%20first-order%20agricultural%20basin%20in%20southern%20Ontario&query.bibliographic=2004,Macrae,%20Merrin%20L.&select=title,DOI&rows=1) -Isaac ---
**Author:** ![merrittr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@merrittr](https://community.crossref.org/u/merrittr)\ **Post date:** [21 January 2023 06:34 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/can-i-lookup-doi-using-just-the-title-and-year-of-a-journal-article/3237/9 "2023-01-21T06:34:03Z")
@ifarley that is exactly what I need 🙂 thanks!