“Why DOIs fail
If it's the perfect system, why the regular complaints that a DOI isn't working? To begin with, a DOI doesn't eliminate the possibility of error, either on our end or at the journal's. We simply copy and paste the DOI from the original document, however, so the errors on our end have been rare.
Instead, problems typically arise because, as press, we're given full access to both papers and their DOIs well before they appear online. Most journals provide this access under an embargo: we agree not to release our articles until the time that the journals specify. Unfortunately, even for the most fast-moving journals, that time is typically several hours before the actual articles appear on the journal's website. So, anyone who's reading quickly is likely to find that the DOI fails.[…]”