Re: [jats-list] Linking <contrib> to <aff>

["G. Ken Holman g.ken.holman@xxxxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(trying again but with a properly positioned graphic; apologies for the
bandwidth)

This very topic came up for me at https://RealtaOnline.com last week,
Michael. Thank you for bringing this up for discussion.

Personally, I agree with you and I prefer your way and not the recommended
way found in the example at:

https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/tag-library/1.3/FullArticleSamples/pnas_s
ample.xml

<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Sullivan</surname>
<given-names>Amy D.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="FN150">&#x002A;</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Wigginton</surname>
<given-names>Janis</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Kirschner</surname>
<given-names>Denise</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="FN151">&#x2020;</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff id="aff-1">Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University
of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0620</aff>

Note how the three <xref> elements of ref-type="aff" are empty of content,
and the target <aff> element has no title or label to use as clickable text
for the cross reference. Currently, my XSLT/XSL-FO stylesheet generic
fallback for such a cross reference is to assume this was an authoring
error and I use the identifier as clickable text ... but when this example
document came along, I was disappointed with this visual result:

[image: image.png]

This begs the question for me "is the recommended empty cross reference
only a semantic link for search or association purposes without any kind of
visual rendering?"

Therefore, should I, as a vendor, assume that a cross reference that has no
clickable content and points to an item that has no identifiable title or
label simply not be rendered because it is assumed to be an internally
expressed semantic or association?

The problem with that assumption, though, is that the documentation doesn't
state what an associated referenced identifier semantic actually is. The
supplied example XML clarifies the semantic by saying ref-type="aff",
though I feel this could be implied by the semantic of the element pointed
to by the referenced identifier.

In your example, I would make the rendered name the clickable text to
visualize the referenced identifier of the affiliation. Would that be an
acceptable rendering to you?

If not, what would you have a vendor do with your specific markup in your
example (if you and I choose not to follow the recommendation)?

Thank you for your insights here.

. . . . . . . Ken

At 15/12/2025 21:41 +0000, Michael Boudreau mboudreau@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi all,

I've been discussing with our platform vendor a feature that doesn't
support our practice of linking article authors and their affiliations via
contrib/@rid and aff/@id, e.g.,

<contrib-group>
    <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af1">
        <string-name name-style="western">
            <given-names>Sam</given-names>
            <surname>Masur</surname>
        </string-name>
    </contrib>
    <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af2">
        <string-name name-style="western">
            <given-names>Sadie</given-names>
            <surname>Green</surname>
        </string-name>
    </contrib>
    <aff id="af1">Harvard University</aff>
    <aff id="af2">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</aff>
</contrib-group>

The vendor points out that the preferred way of linking <contrib> and <aff>
is with a contrib/xref[@ref-type="aff"], which the JATS documentation
indeed labels a "best practice":
https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/archiving/tag-library/1.2/element/contrib.html

I'm wondering if someone can elaborate on the rationale for recommending
<xref> and whether there's anything inherently problematic with the markup
illustrated above. It strikes me as, at least, simple and unambiguous, well
suited for articles whose authors have a single affiliation, as is
extremely common in the humanities and social sciences.

--

Michael R. Boudreau
Electronic Publishing Technology Manager
The University of Chicago Press
1427 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
www.journals.uchicago.edu

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On Mon, Dec 15, 2025 at 4:41b/PM Michael Boudreau mboudreau@xxxxxxxxxxxx <
jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been discussing with our platform vendor a feature that doesn't
> support our practice of linking article authors and their affiliations via
> contrib/@rid and aff/@id, e.g.,
>
> <contrib-group>
>     <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af1">
>         <string-name name-style="western">
>             <given-names>Sam</given-names>
>             <surname>Masur</surname>
>         </string-name>
>     </contrib>
>     <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af2">
>         <string-name name-style="western">
>             <given-names>Sadie</given-names>
>             <surname>Green</surname>
>         </string-name>
>     </contrib>
>     <aff id="af1">Harvard University</aff>
>     <aff id="af2">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</aff>
> </contrib-group>
>
> The vendor points out that the preferred way of linking <contrib> and
> <aff> is with a contrib/xref[@ref-type="aff"], which the JATS documentation
> indeed labels a "best practice":
> https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/archiving/tag-library/1.2/element/contrib.html
>
> I'm wondering if someone can elaborate on the rationale for recommending
> <xref> and whether there's anything inherently problematic with the markup
> illustrated above. It strikes me as, at least, simple and unambiguous, well
> suited for articles whose authors have a single affiliation, as is
> extremely common in the humanities and social sciences.
>
> --
>
> Michael R. Boudreau
>
> Electronic Publishing Technology Manager
>
> The University of Chicago Press
>
> 1427 E. 60th Street
>
> Chicago, IL 60637
>
> *www.journals.uchicago.edu <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu>*
>
>
> JATS-List info and archive <http://www.mulberrytech.com/JATS/JATS-List/>
> EasyUnsubscribe <http://lists.mulberrytech.com/unsub/jats-list/2547403> (by
> email <>)
>


--
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