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

["Alexander Schwarzman aschwarzman@xxxxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Michael,

Pieter and Nikos have already weighed in on the problems with not
using <xref>, e.g., the need to repeat <aff> when multiple authors
share an affiliation, and to indicate @ref-type. I'd like to simply
illustrate these points by providing a real-life example from a 2024
open-access article; see https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.519379. Here is
the relevant portion of the markup:

<article-meta>
     <contrib-group>
          <contrib contrib-type="author">
               <name>
                    <surname>Collard</surname>
                    <given-names>Liam</given-names>
               </name>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">2</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">4</xref>
               <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="an1">b </xref>
               <xref ref-type="corresp"/>
          </contrib>
          <contrib contrib-type="author">
               <name>
                    <surname>Kazemzadeh</surname>
                    <given-names>Mohammadrahim</given-names>
               </name>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">5</xref>
               <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="an1">b </xref>
          </contrib>
          <contrib contrib-type="author">
               <name>
                    <surname>Piscopo</surname>
                    <given-names>Linda</given-names>
               </name>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">3</xref>
          </contrib>
          <contrib contrib-type="author">
               <name>
                    <surname>De Vittorio</surname>
                    <given-names>Massimo</given-names>
               </name>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">2</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">3</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">6</xref>
               <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="an2">b!</xref>
          </contrib>
          <contrib contrib-type="author">
               <name>
                    <surname>Pisanello</surname>
                    <given-names>Ferruccio</given-names>
               </name>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">2</xref>
               <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">7</xref>
               <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="an2">b!</xref>
          </contrib>
          <aff
id="aff1"><label>1</label><institution-wrap><institution>Istituto
Italiano di
               Tecnologia</institution><institution-id
institution-id-type="ror"
               >https://ror.org/042t93s57</institution-id></institution-wrap>
,
Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies,
               Arnesano, LE 73010, <country
country="IT">Italy</country></aff>
          <aff id="aff2"><label>2</label><institution>RAISE
Ecosystem</institution>, Genova, <country country="IT"
               >Italy</country></aff>
          <aff id="aff3"><label>3</label>Dipartimento di Ingegneria
DellbInnovazione, <institution>UniversitC  del
               Salento</institution>, Lecce 73100, <country
country="IT">Italy</country></aff>
          <aff id="aff4">
               <label>4</label>
               <email>*@iit.it</email>
          </aff>
          <aff id="aff5">
               <label>5</label>
               <email>**@iit.it</email>
          </aff>
          <aff id="aff6">
               <label>6</label>
               <email>***@iit.it</email>
          </aff>
          <aff id="aff7">
               <label>7</label>
               <email>****@iit.it</email>
          </aff>
     </contrib-group>
     <author-notes>
          <fn id="an1">
               <label>b </label>
               <p>These authors contributed equally and are co-first
authors</p>
          </fn>
          <fn id="an2">
               <label>b!</label>
               <p>These authors jointly supervised and are co-last
authors of this work</p>
          </fn>
     </author-notes>
</article-meta>

Thank you,
--Sasha

Alexander ('Sasha') Schwarzman
Content Technology Architect
aschwarzman@xxxxxxxxxx
Optica Publishing Group




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
>
>
>
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