EPrints DataCite REST: A Safety-Focused DOI Registration Workflow for DataCite REST API and Metadata Schema 4.7

This technical report presents EPrints DataCite REST, a safety-focused modernization of the EPrints User Group DataCiteDoi plugin for the current DataCite REST API and DataCite Metadata Schema 4.7. The implementation preserves the EPrints integration model of the historical plugin while replacing the former MDS-based workflow with a deliberately conservative registration architecture. DOI creation is never automatic: candidate records undergo local classification and authenticated preflight checks, new identifiers are created initially in Draft state, and publication to Findable requires a separate explicit action. Every write operation is preceded and followed by authenticated DataCite requests, including exact client-ownership verification, and newly published DOIs are persisted locally only after the remote identifier, client, landing URL, and final state have been independently confirmed. The implementation includes deterministic DataCite XML generation, metadata updates, semantic comparison of synchronized records with idempotent UPDATE_NOOP behavior, duplicate barriers for historical or external DOI-like identifiers, repository-policy hooks for managed namespaces, exact EPrints-user write allowlists, external credential storage, and a fail-closed Staff interface in which write actions remain disabled unless explicitly enabled. Version 0.1.0-alpha was extracted from repository-specific implementations validated in production workflows and subsequently generalized as a public package. The alpha designation reflects the need for additional installation testing on clean EPrints instances before a stable release.