DOIs for Dataset versions

Following up on the thread on the google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!topic/dataverse-community/34E9foKnxQs

Userstory

As a researcher, I want to be able to cite, using a permanent identifier, a specific version of dataset to avoid any ambiguity and to make the citation machine-actionable.

How this should probably look

Zenodo would be a good template here.

1. A dataset has one "generic" DOI that always points to the latest version (this would be used if you e.g. just cite the data generically)
2. A dataset has one DOI per version to allow to point to a specific version

Example

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1041767 is the generic dataset DOI, always pointing to the most recent version, with 10.5281/zenodo.1188752 being the DOI for the 2nd (current) version and 10.5281/zenodo.1041768 the DOI for the first version

Relationship to other features

File DOIs:

File DOIs are great (and by themselves necessary), but they are not a replacement for dataset version DOIs. Datasets are often made up of multiple files. An analysis script (which itself may be part of the data and thus versioned) may point to multiple files in a dataset. It's not feasible (or desirable) for a researcher to include the DOI for every file used in a citation. They want to point to one single DOI to reference the exact data (made up of multiple files) they've been using. This is equally true for quantiative and qualitative data, btw.

File DOIs of files that are not changed between versions should remain stable (otherwise there's a potential to massively inflate the number of DOIs issued for no good reason)

UNFs

UNFs (at least for tabular data) help ensure that a cited dataset is the one being used, so they avoid using incorrect versions, but they do not function as identifiers, i.e. UNF:6:edx+kB6SY2N3Zt9OsUbp4A== tells me nothing about where to find that dataset.

Start by reading the linked Google Group thread, then review how the project currently handles dataset versions, file DOIs, and UNFs. The feature is done when each dataset has a generic DOI for its latest version, a DOI for every specific version, and unchanged file DOIs remain stable.