diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/pidproviders/doi/XmlMetadataTemplate.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/pidproviders/doi/XmlMetadataTemplate.java
index 9ebb346baf8..0499f8e9cde 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/pidproviders/doi/XmlMetadataTemplate.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/pidproviders/doi/XmlMetadataTemplate.java
@@ -927,10 +927,9 @@ private void writeAlternateIdentifiers(XMLStreamWriter xmlw, DvObject dvObject)
         }
 
         for (DatasetFieldCompoundValue otherIdentifier : otherIdentifiers) {
-            String identifierType = null;
+            String identifierType = ":unav";
             String identifier = null;
             for (DatasetField subField : otherIdentifier.getChildDatasetFields()) {
-                identifierType = ":unav";
                 switch (subField.getDatasetFieldType().getName()) {
                 case DatasetFieldConstant.otherIdAgency:
                     identifierType = subField.getValue();