Hello there!
From time to time, applicants and members will ask if Crossref can customize or amend our membership terms for their organizations, or sign additional documentation.
The short answer is: no, with a slight exception in cases of certain United States state entities, and organs of the United Nations and European Union.
Before I explain further, let’s zoom out. Crossref is a nonprofit membership organization composed of around 20,000 members. When the representative of an organization fills out a membership application, they agree that their organization will abide by our membership terms. These terms dictate that members will do such things as include DOIs within their reference lists, only register DOI records for works they have the legal rights to, pay their membership and content registration fees in a timely manner, and ensure that their DOIs can always resolve to a unique and active landing page. They also agree to keep their metadata records up to date. This constitutes a legally binding agreement between Crossref and the applying organization. It helps to keep the citation network active and to build the Research Nexus, and it also ensures that our members can all benefit from the actions of all other members.
In the past we required that new applicants physically (or digitally) sign a copy of our membership terms; we no longer require this, and instead, applicant organizations just need to tick a box to accept the membership terms when they apply to join. However, if your organization needs a signed copy of the membership agreement for legal reasons, we can furnish this. Please send us an email at member@crossref.org to get this process started - it may take a week or two as we will have to issue a digital copy of the membership terms and then countersign it after a representative of your organization has signed.
Beyond this, we cannot sign additional documents. With a staff of under 50 for a membership of 20,000, it isn’t tenable to sign documents on an individual level. Nor can we negotiate individual addenda to our membership terms; our membership terms are standard and apply to independent and sponsored members alike. Individually negotiating membership terms also goes against our principles that members be treated equally, regardless of their size or publishing scope.
We are aware that certain sorts of organizations (US state entities like state universities; constituent bodies of the EU and UN) are legally unable to accept our terms and work with us. In consultations with these kinds of organizations, we’ve developed a standard set of addenda that can be used alongside our membership terms. If you represent an organization that falls into one of these categories, please email member@crossref.org to discuss the standard addenda further.
One final note: sometimes applicants and members may need us to complete standard vendor setup forms so that Crossref can be added to members’ payment systems. We can fill out basic forms such as these provided that they do not require additional signatures or agreements to terms beyond our membership terms. You can submit a request to our Billing team if your organization needs such a form to be completed. Note that we cannot upload invoices to vendor portals; all invoices are sent via email. If you require any US tax documentation such as a completed W-9 form, we are also able to supply this.
If you have any questions, we’re always here to help!