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<sub-article> Sub-article

An article that is completely contained inside another article.

This model assumes that there is always an outside article, and that both the article and the sub-article have their own metadata. The container article will have, at the very least, journal information, issue information, and start and end pages; it may also have a title, author, or other metadata. The contained sub-article will have its own, independent metadata, such as authors or a smaller page range, that it may not share with the article that encloses it. The sub-article metadata may be tagged using the <front-stub> element if all of the journal metadata is identical to that of the outside article; if the <front-stub> element is used, any metadata not specifically tagged is inherited from the outside article.

“Super-articles” that contain other articles rarely contain much content of their own, perhaps just a title and introductory paragraph.

The <sub-article> construction should not be used for an article and its response, or for a series of responses, even if the original article to which the responses are replying is elsewhere.

Multi-language

In current multi-language journal publishing, it is not unusual for the narrative body of an article to be available in two languages (for example, English and Korean or French and English). This situation can be handled by tagging each language as a separate <sub-article>. The @xml:lang attribute on <sub-article> names the appropriate language. The articles can share metadata or keep that separate, using the <front-stub> element. If figures and tables are shared, these can be placed in the <floats-group> at the end of the article and referenced from each sub-article. If figures and tables are completely separate, each sub-article will need to maintain its own numbering system and placement.

Related Elements

A journal article (<article>) may be divided into several components:

<processing-meta> (the metadata that concerns the XML file rather than the contents of the document);
<front> (the metadata or header information, which contains both journal metadata [<journal-meta>] and article metadata [<article-meta>]);
<body> (the textual and graphical content of the article);
<back> (any ancillary information such as a glossary, reference list, or appendix);
<floats-group> (single container element some publishers and archives use to hold all floating elements such as figures and tables that are referenced in the article body or back matter); and
either a series of <response> elements or a series of <sub-article> elements. (A <response> is a commentary on the article itself, such as a summation by an editor, an answer to a letter-article, or words from the author responding to peer-review comments. Sub-articles are articles such as news pieces, abstracts, or committee reports that are completely contained within a main article.)

May be contained in

The following, in order:

<processing-meta> Processing Metadata, zero or one
Any one of:
- <front> Front Matter
- <front-stub> Stub Front Metadata
<body> Body of the Document, zero or one
<back> Back Matter, zero or one
<floats-group> Floating Element Group, zero or one
Any one of:
- <sub-article> Sub-article, zero or more
- <response> Response, zero or more

<!ELEMENT  sub-article  %sub-article-model;                          >

(processing-meta?, (front | front-stub), body?, back?, floats-group?,
(sub-article* | response*))

<article dtd-version="1.4">
 <front>
  <journal-meta>
   <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">BR MED J</journal-id>
   <issn>0959-8138</issn>
   <publisher>
    <publisher-name>British Medical Journal</publisher-name>
   </publisher>
  </journal-meta>
  <article-meta>
   <article-id>bmj-4619-a6</article-id>
   <article-categories>
    <subj-group>
     <subject>General Practice</subject>
     <subject>11</subject>
     <subject>9</subject>
     <subject>76</subject>
     <subject>215</subject>
     <subject>110</subject>
     <subject>318</subject>
    </subj-group>
    <series-title>Controversy in primary care</series-title>
   </article-categories>
   <title-group>
    <article-title>Should asymptomatic haemochromatosis
     be treated?</article-title>
   </title-group>
   <pub-date publication-format="print" date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2000-05-13">
    <day>13</day><month>05</month><year>2000</year>
   </pub-date>
   <volume>320</volume>
   <issue>7245</issue>
   <fpage>1314</fpage>
   <lpage>1317</lpage>
   <permissions>
    <copyright-statement>Copyright © 2000,
     British Medical Journal</copyright-statement>
   </permissions>
  </article-meta>
 </front>
 <body>
  <p>Genetic testing ...</p>
 </body>

 <sub-article article-type="research-article">
  <front>
   <journal-meta>
    <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">BR MED J</journal-id>
    <issn>0959-8138</issn>
    <publisher>
     <publisher-name>British Medical Journal</publisher-name>
    </publisher>
   </journal-meta>
   <article-meta>
    <title-group>
     <article-title>Treatment can be onerous for patient and
      doctor</article-title>
    </title-group>
    <contrib-group>
     <contrib contrib-type="author">
      <name><surname>Seamark</surname>
       <given-names>Clare J</given-names></name>
      <role>general practitioner</role>
      <xref ref-type="aff"><sup><italic>a</italic></sup></xref>
     </contrib>
     <contrib contrib-type="author">
      <name><surname>Hutchinson</surname>
       <given-names>Margaret</given-names></name>
      <role>retired headmistress</role>
     </contrib>
    </contrib-group>
    <aff><sup><italic>a</italic></sup>Honiton
     Group Practice, Honiton, Devon EX14 2NY</aff>
    <author-notes>
     <fn><p>Correspondence to: C Seamark
      <email>daseamark@msn.com</email></p></fn>
     <fn><p>Competing interests: None declared.</p></fn>
    </author-notes>
    <history>
     <date date-type="accepted" iso-8601-date="2000-02-07">
      <day>07</day><month>02</month><year>2000</year>
     </date>
    </history>
    <permissions>
     <copyright-statement>Copyright © 2000,
      British Medical Journal</copyright-statement>
    </permissions>
   </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
   <p>The development of genetic testing for disease has
    raised the problem of whether to test asymptomatic
    individuals. ...</p>
   ...
  </body>
  <back>
   <ack>
    <p>We thank MH&apos;s family for their willingness to be involved in
     genetic testing ...</p>
   </ack>
   <ref-list>...</ref-list>
  </back>
 </sub-article>

 <sub-article article-type="research-article">...</sub-article>
  
 <sub-article article-type="research-article">...</sub-article>
</article>

<article dtd-version="1.4" xml:lang="mul"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"  >
 <processing-meta lang-grouping="yes"/>

 <front>...
  <article-meta>
   <title-group><article-title>...</article-title></title-group>
   ...
   <content-language>fr</content-language>
   <content-language>en</content-language>
  </article-meta>
 </front>

 <sub-article>
  <processing-meta lang-grouping="yes"/>
  <front-stub>
   ...
   <title-group xml:lang="fr" 
      lang-variant="original" lang-source="author">
    <article-title>Chirurgie en période COVID, étude 
      observationnelle</article-title>
   </title-group>
   ...
   <content-language>fr</content-language>
  </front-stub>
  ...
 </sub-article>

 <sub-article>
  <processing-meta lang-grouping="yes"/>
  <front-stub>
   ...
   <title-group xml:lang ="en" 
      lang-variant="original" lang-source="author">
    <article-title>Surgery under COVID:  An observational 
      study</article-title>
   </title-group>
   <content-language>en</content-language>
   ...
  </front-stub>
  ...
 </sub-article> 
</article>

Related Resources

Journal Archiving and Interchange Tag Library NISO JATS Version 1.4 (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2024)

<sub-article> Sub-article

Usage/Remarks

Best Practice

Multi-lang Attributes

Base Attributes