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Change History: JATS 1.3 to 1.4

This version (JATS 1.4) is fully backward compatible with JATS 1.3 (2021), and with JATS 1.0 (2012), JATS 1.1 (2015), and JATS 1.2 (2019). Any document valid to JATS 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, OR 1.3 will be valid to JATS 1.4 of the same JATS Tag Set.
Changes to JATS 1.3 to produce JATS 1.4 were made in response to user comments on the previous JATS versions. These are incremental changes, adding new functionality such as multi-lingual documents, new collaboration naming elements, and the latest release of the NISO Access License and Indicators (ALI).
Module File Names
All JATS module filenames are tied to the version of their release, so all modules have been renamed to incorporate "1-4" in the name. For example, a module that used to be named “JATS-list1.ent” or “JATS-list1-3.ent” is now named “JATS-list1-4.ent”.
Catalog and Formal Public Identifiers in JATS 1.4
New catalog files (catalog-jats-v1-4-no-base.xml and catalog-jats-v1-4-with-base.xml) are provided as version 1.4 catalogs, with a publication date of October 31, 2024.
In these catalogs, each JATS-named module has been given a publication date of October 31, 2024 and a new Formal Public Identifier (fpi) in which JATS “v1.3” became “v1.4”. For example, the JATS default classes file (JATS-default-classes1-4.ent) has the new fpi: 
-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Default Element Classes Module v1.4 20241031//EN
Element Related Changes
New elements discussed in this section were added to all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
Added Legends and Languages
  • Legend (<legend>) — A list or table of symbols, characters, terms, or abbreviations, with explanations of their meaning.
  • Content Language (<content-language>) — The new JATS multi-language mechanism is largely attribute-based, but did add one new element. The <content-language> element identifies one of the possibly several primary languages used in the article, by containing an ISO 639 two-letter code. When tagging a multi-lingual document, <content-language> should appear once for each language used in the document.
Redesigning Collaboration Tagging
The process for tagging a collaboration named as a contributor has been redesigned to provide element-level access to the name of the collaboration and to help alleviate confusion. Three new elements describe what can be recorded concerning a collaboration in the context of a <contrib>:
  • <collab-name> — Contains the name of a group of contributors who are credited under a single name, such as a committee or a project credited as a contributor. This element holds only the name of the collaboration and no other content.
  • <collab-name-alternatives> — Wrapper element for more than one version of a single collaboration name, for example, the name of a laboratory in more than one language or script.
  • <collab-wrap> — Contains the metadata concerning the collaboration, such as the name (or names) of the collaboration, the role or roles it played, the names of the individuals who comprise the collaboration, an address, etc.
These new elements replace the former collaboration elements, so <collab> and <collab-alternatives> are now deprecated.
Element Changes (Modified Content Models)
The element content model changes discussed in this section were made in all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
<legend> — was added to the content models of the following elements: <boxed-text>, <chem-struct-wrap>, <disp-formula>, <disp-formula-group>, <fig>, <fig-group> (in Archiving and Publishing only), <graphic>, <media>, <table-wrap>, and <table-wrap-group> (in Archiving and Publishing only).
<custom-meta-group> — was made repeatable everywhere it is used.
<object-id> — was added to the content model for <def-list>.
Elements Deprecated Starting in JATS 1.4
The JATS Tag Libraries identify each deprecated element or attribute (using the text “(deprecated)” in the element/attribute name and the phrase “This element/attribute is deprecated” in the description. The Tag Library usually suggests alternative tagging.
The following elements are deprecated for the first time in 1.4:
Attributes Related Changes
New attributes discussed in this section were added to all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
New Attributes for Multi-language Mechanism
The ability for JATS articles to be tagged in more than one language (true multi-language support) has been added by creating these attributes to enable encoding of different language variants.
  • @lang-grouping — Placed on the <processing-meta> element as a flag to indicate that this document uses the @lang-group attribute and associated multi-language attributes to group and describe multiple language content.
  • @lang-group — Placed on two or more elements (such as figures or sections) to indicate that these elements are part of the same language group (that is, they represent the same content in different languages). This attribute is the heart of the JATS multi-lingual mechanism
  • @lang-focus — How members of a language group are related to each other, for example, one of the languages might be the “primary” language and the other language(s) “secondary”. Takes a set value list.
  • @lang-focus-custom — Provides values for @lang-focus outside the set value list.
  • @lang-source — What was the role of the person/entity who created this language variant? For example: author, translator, a machine translation. Takes a set value list.
  • @lang-source-custom — Provides values for @lang-source outside the set value list.
  • @lang-variant — Names the type of language variant for a member of a language group, for example, a translation or an original. Takes a set value list.
  • @lang-variant-custom — Provides values for @lang-variant outside the set value list.
  • @lang-translate — Should the content of this element be translated? Possibilities are “yes” or “no”.
These multi-language attributes were added to JATS elements as follows:
Attribute Value/Suggested Value Changes
New attribute values discussed in this section were added to all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
Attribute suggested value lists that changed included:
  • @article-type — For the element <article>, four previously suggested @article-type values were deleted from the list: “clinical-instruction”, “dissertation”, “partial-retraction”, and “reprint”.
    Eleven new suggested values were added, including “data-paper”, “interview”, and “tutorial”. See @article-type for the complete suggested list. Since this is a list of suggested common article types, a JATS user can feel free to use new values not in the list.
  • @publisher-type — For the citation elements (<mixed-citation> and <element-citation>), the value “standards-body” was removed from the suggested values list.
  • @question-response-type — Added the value “custom” to the values for the @question-response-type attribute and a new attribute (@custom-type) to the element <question>.
Changes in Recommended practice
@mimetype and @mime-subtype (Note: While these attributes will not be deprecated, best practice is to avoid using @mimetype and @mime-subtype as separate attributes. Instead, combine mimetype and mime-subtype values separated by a slash inside @mimetype (e.g., mimetype="application/excel").
Existing Attributes to New Locations
The modified attribute lists discussed in this section were added to all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
@xml:lang — Added to the following elements, to allow for multi-language documents:
The attribute @xml:lang was also added to the face markup elements, to allow for multi-language documents:
New/Replacement Modules for the Suite
The following new modules were added to either the DTD Suite modules or the XSD suite modules, or both:
  • New ALI Module — The NISO RP-22-2021, Access & License Indicators (2021 Revision) has been revised to version 1.0.1. JATS will update the JATS XSD schema versions to reference a new JATS-specific ALI schema module. JATS DTDs will add a new attribute @applies_to to the <ali:license_ref> element.
    (Note: The latest ALI XSD makes the attribute @start_date on the element <ali:free_to_read> required. Unfortunately, the previous version of ALI used by JATS had this @start_date as an optional attribute. JATS cannot require this attribute, as that would be a backwards-incompatible JATS change. Therefore, JATS has created its own JATS-specific XSD schema module, and, in both the DTD and XSD versions of the ALI schema, the attribute @start_date on the element <ali:free_to_read> will be optional.)
  • New MathML 3.0 Module — The MathML 3.0 XSD schema files will be updated to the 2014 edition, which will remove some extraneous error/warning messages. In 2014, the W3C removed an ambiguity issue with the model of %lt;mml_annotation>>.The change is type-related so the MathML 3.0 DTD modules are unchanged.
  • BITS Multi-language Attribute Overrides — The new module “bits-multi-lingual-atts1-4.ent” was created to override all the content-element attribute lists in the BITS Embedded Index Term and Question/Answer modules to add the multi-lingual attributes. These changes were put into a separate module to make the module easy to discard when (if) BITS adds multi-lingual modeling.
Parameter Entities
New Parameter Entities
The Parameter Entities discussed in this section were added in all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
New For Classes and Mixes
The following class or mix Parameter Entities were added:
New For Element Models
The following parameter entities were added:
New for Attribute Lists/Values
The following parameter entities were added:
For Modules
The following parameter entities were added:
Modified Parameter Entities
The Parameter Entities discussed in this section were modified in all three JATS Tag Sets, unless otherwise noted.
For Classes and Mixes
The following class or mix Parameter Entities were modified:
For Element Models and Attribute Lists
The following parameter entities were modified for JATS 1.4: