Investigating the Metadata of Local Publications and the Tension Between Local and Global Object Identifiers: The Case of the Korea Citation Index (KCI)

This study examines the coverage and metadata quality of journal articles indexed in the Korea Citation Index (KCI). Despite a growing number of KCI publications, only a portion are captured by major bibliographic databases, with Dimensions and OpenAlex showing higher coverage than Web of Science and Scopus. The findings highlight metadata limitations—particularly for articles without DOIs—and underscore structural barriers, such as the constraints faced by small learned societies, that hinder DOI assignment, even amid the transition from a national (UCI) to a global (DOI) persistent identifier system. The study argues for more inclusive PID policies, including retrospective DOI assignment, and calls for greater reliance on open research information infrastructures to enhance the visibility, interoperability, and reproducibility of Korean research.