A lost certificate: duplicate, reissue or send the link again

The difference between a copy and a new document

A paper diploma that is lost cannot be recovered, and issuing a second original raises awkward questions: which one is the real one, and could both be in circulation? A digital certificate is different, because the document is a rendering of a record that the institution still holds. Producing it again creates no second original; it shows the same one.

In Emitcert, each recipient receives a link to a public verification page, a PDF and an Open Badges 3.0 credential. The link and the record stay where they were. A graduate who has lost the e-mail has lost a copy of the link, not the certificate.

Step one: find the record

Search the certificate list by the graduate's name, by exact serial, by student number or by e-mail address. The result shows the status and the date of issue. Check that the person writing is the person named; a request from an address that does not match the record is a reason to ask for the information the register holds.

Step two: choose the response

1. The certificate stands and nothing in it is wrong. Send the link again. The PDF can be downloaded from it again, and the verification page is unchanged. No new document is created.
2. The certificate stands but the graduate needs a different format. The same link offers the verification page, the PDF and the credential; direct the graduate to the one the requester asked for.
3. Something in the certificate was wrong. Use the correction route described in our guide to correcting a certificate. The original is withdrawn in favour of the corrected one, and the old link leads to the new one.
4. The certificate was withdrawn. A withdrawn certificate is not reissued on request. Establish why it was withdrawn before doing anything, and do not reinstate it merely because the graduate needs it.

Why "duplicate" is the wrong word

In a paper register, a duplicate is a second copy marked as such. In a digital record, a second certificate is a second statement, and two valid statements about the same award can disagree. Avoiding that state is why the correction route withdraws the first certificate before the second stands alone, and why a reinstatement of a withdrawn certificate is refused where a correction has replaced it.

The W3C model for verifiable credentials makes the underlying point: a credential is verifiable because it has not been altered since issue, and what a verifier relies on is the issuer's current statement about it. The statement the institution should be able to make at any moment is one sentence long: this certificate exists, was granted on this day to this person and stands.

What to tell the graduate

Give the link, name the formats it offers, and say that the verification page is the version an employer should be sent. If the employer needs a paper copy, the PDF can be printed. Our guide to verifying a diploma tells recruiters what to look for, so that the graduate is not asked for more documents than the page already gives.

A checklist

1. Find the record, and confirm the requester is the person named.
2. Check the status: standing, expired or withdrawn.
3. If it stands and is correct, resend the link and stop.
4. If it is wrong, correct and reissue rather than issuing a second certificate.
5. Keep a note of the request; see record retention.