A Uniform Bibliographic Code

M. Schmitz (1), G. Helou (1), P. Dubois (2), C. LaGue (1), B. Madore (1), H. G. Corwin Jr. (1) & S. Lesteven (2)

(1) Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CALTECH, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
(2) CDS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France

question@simbad.u-strasbg.fr

History

History

The uniform 19-digit code used for bibliographic references within NED and SIMBAD was developed by both teams in consultation with Dr. H. Abt, editor of the Astrophysical Journal. The primary purpose of the ``REF_CODE'' is to provide a unique and traceable representation of a bibliographic reference within the structure of each database. However, in many cases, the code has sufficient information to be quickly deciphered by eye, and it is used frequently in the interfaces as a succinct abbreviation of a full bibliographic reference.

Reference Coding: Definition

Reference Coding: Definition

The format of the standard code is as follows:

YYYYJJJJJVVVVMPPPPA

YYYY:
the year of publication.
JJJJJ:
abbreviation of the publication (e.g. see tables 1 to 4) Table 1. Table 2, Table 3. Table 4.
VVVV:
volume number
M:
special character (see below)
PPPP:
page number
A:
first letter of the first author's last name Example : 1994A&AS..108..235J would be how the paper by Jackson, et al. 1994, A&AS,108,235 would be coded. The complete description is in press as a chapter of the book : "Information & On-line Data in Astronomy",1995, D.Egret and M.A. Albrecht (Eds) Kluwer Acad. Publ. For examples of the 5-character field 'JJJJJ' see Table 1. Table 2, Table 3. Table 4. In addition to the standard abbreviations of the main astronomical journals (ApJ, AJ, A&A, MNRAS, PASP, ...) many Observatory publications also appear. A complete list will be put on-line.

The M character is used to solve different ambiguities :

letters sections in various journals ,
subdivision in a volume,
issue number
multiple paper on the same page (e.g. IAU Circular).
etc ...
Other usages

Other usages

Since its inception, this Biblographic Code has become a standard not only for NED and SIMBAD, but - with minor variations - for ADS and other bibliographic services.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

We thank Helmut Abt and the rest of the NED and SIMBAD groups for their help in defining the reference codes. Table 2 has been prepared with the kind help of Suzanne Laloë at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. NED is a research support program operated by the Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJPL, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Astrophysics Division, Science Operations Branch). SIMBAD is maintained by the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg, Franc