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

["Pieter Lamers pieter.lamers@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Michael,

I see two major problems with your use of @rid.
1. it does not tell what kind of reference we are seeing; it is possible 
to have other kinds than affiliation.
2. it does not allow for multiple references, unless you'd be willing to 
have *rid="af1 af2"* for an author with multiple affiliations, which 
would require decomposing the attribute value at all times.

Best,
Pieter

On 15/12/2025 22:41, 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>
> \xA0 \xA0 <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af1">
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <string-name name-style="western">
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <given-names>Sam</given-names>
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <surname>Masur</surname>
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 </string-name>
> \xA0 \xA0 </contrib>
> \xA0 \xA0 <contrib contrib-type="author" rid="af2">
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <string-name name-style="western">
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <given-names>Sadie</given-names>
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 <surname>Green</surname>
> \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 \xA0 </string-name>
> \xA0 \xA0 </contrib>
> \xA0 \xA0 <aff id="af1">Harvard University</aff>
> \xA0 \xA0 <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. 60^th \xA0Street
>
> Chicago, IL 60637
>
> _www.journals.uchicago.edu <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu>_
>
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-- 
Pieter Lamers
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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