diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 48ee813cd..e5c9f406c 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ GEM
     audited (4.10.0)
       activerecord (>= 4.2, < 6.2)
     aws-eventstream (1.1.1)
-    aws-partitions (1.444.0)
+    aws-partitions (1.446.0)
     aws-sdk-core (3.114.0)
       aws-eventstream (~> 1, >= 1.0.2)
       aws-partitions (~> 1, >= 1.239.0)
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ GEM
       latex-decode (~> 0.0)
     binding_of_caller (1.0.0)
       debug_inspector (>= 0.0.1)
-    bolognese (1.9.4)
+    bolognese (1.9.5)
       activesupport (>= 4.2.5)
       benchmark_methods (~> 0.7)
       bibtex-ruby (>= 5.1.0)
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ GEM
     commonmarker (0.17.13)
       ruby-enum (~> 0.5)
     concurrent-ruby (1.1.8)
-    connection_pool (2.2.4)
+    connection_pool (2.2.5)
     countries (2.1.4)
       i18n_data (~> 0.8.0)
       money (~> 6.9)
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ GEM
     jsonlint (0.3.0)
       oj (~> 3)
       optimist (~> 3)
-    jwt (2.2.2)
+    jwt (2.2.3)
     kaminari (1.2.1)
       activesupport (>= 4.1.0)
       kaminari-actionview (= 1.2.1)
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ GEM
     nokogiri (1.11.3)
       mini_portile2 (~> 2.5.0)
       racc (~> 1.4)
-    oj (3.11.3)
+    oj (3.11.5)
     oj_mimic_json (1.0.1)
     optimist (3.0.1)
     pandoc-ruby (2.1.4)
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ GEM
       addressable (>= 2.4.0)
       nokogiri (>= 1.8.0)
       public_suffix (>= 2.0.0, < 2.1)
-    premailer (1.14.2)
+    premailer (1.14.3)
       addressable
       css_parser (>= 1.6.0)
       htmlentities (>= 4.0.0)
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ GEM
       rspec-mocks (~> 3.9.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.9.0)
     rspec-support (3.9.4)
-    rubocop (1.12.1)
+    rubocop (1.13.0)
       parallel (~> 1.10)
       parser (>= 3.0.0.0)
       rainbow (>= 2.2.2, < 4.0)
diff --git a/app/controllers/datacite_dois_controller.rb b/app/controllers/datacite_dois_controller.rb
index f8dc277b5..d30374299 100644
--- a/app/controllers/datacite_dois_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/datacite_dois_controller.rb
@@ -1112,6 +1112,7 @@ def safe_params
         dates
         identifiers
         relatedIdentifiers
+        relatedItems
         fundingReferences
         geoLocations
         rightsList
diff --git a/app/models/doi.rb b/app/models/doi.rb
index 250680217..9e8f7624a 100644
--- a/app/models/doi.rb
+++ b/app/models/doi.rb
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class Doi < ApplicationRecord
   validate :check_landing_page, if: :landing_page?
   validate :check_identifiers, if: :identifiers?
   validate :check_related_identifiers, if: :related_identifiers?
-  # validate :check_related_items, if: :related_items?
+  validate :check_related_items, if: :related_items?
   validate :check_funding_references, if: :funding_references?
   validate :check_geo_locations, if: :geo_locations?
   validate :check_language, if: :language?
@@ -1656,15 +1656,6 @@ def identifier
     normalize_doi(doi, sandbox: !Rails.env.production?)
   end
 
-  # disable virtual attributes when database has been migrated
-  def related_items=(value)
-    write_attribute(:related_items, value) if has_attribute?(:related_items)
-  end
-
-  def related_items
-    read_attribute(:related_items) if has_attribute?(:related_items)
-  end
-
   def client_id
     client.symbol.downcase if client.present?
   end
diff --git a/spec/factories/default.rb b/spec/factories/default.rb
index 2a46e0dfd..b177dbc13 100644
--- a/spec/factories/default.rb
+++ b/spec/factories/default.rb
@@ -232,6 +232,22 @@
         },
       ]
     end
+    related_items do
+      [
+        {
+          "firstPage" => "249",
+          "lastPage" => "264",
+          "publicationYear" => "2018",
+          "relatedItemIdentifier" =>
+            { "__content__" => "10.1016/j.physletb.2017.11.044",
+            "relatedItemIdentifierType" => "DOI" },
+          "relatedItemType" => "Journal",
+          "relationType" => "IsPublishedIn",
+          "titles" => { "title" => "Physics letters / B" },
+          "volume" => "776"
+        }
+      ]
+    end
     schema_version { "http://datacite.org/schema/kernel-4" }
     source { "test" }
     type { "DataciteDoi" }