diff --git a/scripts/deposit.py b/scripts/deposit.py
index d000634..b745598 100644
--- a/scripts/deposit.py
+++ b/scripts/deposit.py
@@ -647,6 +647,19 @@ def run(slug, provider, live, publish, new_version, delete_draft,
             set_field(slug, "archived_version", meta.get("version") or "0.0.0")
             steps.append("stamped archived_at %s (version %s)"
                          % (stamp, meta.get("version")))
+            # The DOI has to reach the ARTICLE's front matter too, not only
+            # metadata.yml: that is where the PDF's title page takes it from,
+            # and `pixi run test` asserts the two agree. Run here, the request
+            # carries both files and the publish needs nothing further. Run at
+            # publish instead, it would land on the runner and have to be
+            # written back -- the step this flow exists to remove.
+            import subprocess
+            if subprocess.call([sys.executable, "scripts/sync_archival.py"],
+                               cwd=ROOT) != 0:
+                raise DepositError(
+                    "could not write the reserved DOI into the article's "
+                    "front matter; nothing else was changed")
+            steps.append("wrote the DOI into the article front matter")
             print("\n".join("  " + s for s in steps))
             print("\nReserved and stopped. The identifiers are in "
                   "metadata.yml; commit them, and the deposit runs when they "
diff --git a/tests/test_migration.py b/tests/test_migration.py
index 952035d..efea3c2 100644
--- a/tests/test_migration.py
+++ b/tests/test_migration.py
@@ -2374,6 +2374,24 @@ def test_an_open_request_is_not_asked_for_twice():
         "and it must subtract them from what it asks about"
 
 
+def test_the_reserve_writes_the_doi_into_the_article_too():
+    """A deposit request has to carry BOTH files.
+
+    `metadata.yml` holds the record for the guard; the article's own front
+    matter is where the PDF's title page takes the DOI from, and
+    `test_the_pdf_carries_the_archival_doi_once_a_note_is_deposited` asserts
+    the two agree. The first live reserve wrote only the metadata and that
+    test failed on the request it opened -- correctly, because a publish from
+    that state would have produced a PDF with no DOI on it.
+    """
+    src = (ROOT / "scripts" / "deposit.py").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    reserve = src.split("if not rebuild:")[1].split("return")[0]
+    assert "sync_archival.py" in reserve, \
+        "the reserve must write the DOI into the article front matter"
+    for field in ("archived_at", "archived_version"):
+        assert field in reserve, "%s must be stamped by the reserve" % field
+
+
 def test_the_deposit_reminder_asks_on_a_schedule_as_well_as_on_a_push():
     """The push trigger fires on a metadata CHANGE; the condition it cares
     about is a STATE — archival, published, and holding no record.