◇◆
Deprecated Structures (In BITS and JATS 1.4)
BITS 2.2 and JATS 1.4 have identified several structures, elements, and attributes,
as “deprecated”. When something is deprecated, it means that, while these structures
are still available in the tag set, the best practice suggestion is that they not
be used. In most cases, the BITS documentation recommends alternatives.
Such deprecated structures will remain in this version of BITS and all 2.x versions
to ensure
backward compatibility. When BITS releases a non-backwards-compatible version, probably
to be called BITS 3.0, we expect all deprecated structures to be removed from the
tag set. At this time (this is written in Fall 2025) we cannot predict when or even
if BITS 3.0 might be released.
Why Deprecate?
The most common reason structures may be deprecated is that BITS and JATS users have
new requirements, and these new requirements cannot be accommodated either with existing
structures or with backwards-compatible additions to existing structures. This is
an unfortunate, but not uncommon, occurrence in the maintenance of complex specifications
that are used in many contexts and in changing environments. As JATS and BITS are
adopted by more and more users who are encoding an increasing variety of document
types, new requirements are identified. Similarly, as the world and our expectations
change, new requirements are identified.
Structures may also be deprecated:
- When a new structure is created that meets new requirements, but also includes the functionality of an existing structure. In an effort to minimize duplication in the tag sets, the old structure is deprecated.
- When it is realized that two or more old elements are members of a growing class of structures, and one element should be created to represent the entire class.
- If an existing structure is difficult to understand/use correctly and has been abused in the past, sometimes it can be replaced by simpler or more easily understood structures. To reduce duplication in the tag sets, the old structure is then deprecated.
Multi-language Documents
Changing BITS to enable tagging a document in more than one language added a new element,
changed some element models, added many new attributes, and deprecated several elements.
Why? Changing, or perhaps, more completely understood requirements.
When the predecessor to JATS and BITS, the NLM DTD, was created, user experience was
with mono-lingual documents that had metadata in the same language as the document.
Early versions of JATS and BITS reflected this continued focus on mono-lingual documents.
An occasional document might contain phrases, quotations, examples, or boxed text
in other languages, but the document as a whole was written in one language. Similarly,
the metadata for the document was written in the language of the document. Translations
of some key portions of the metadata, such as the book or book part title or abstract,
might be provided for the convenience of users in other language communities, but
these were considered translations of the primary single-language metadata.
Over time, it became clear that this modeling of a single language document, with
a few translated metadata elements, was based on some faulty assumptions. The JATS
Standing Committee learned that:
- There are documents that have much, or all, of their content in two or more languages.
- There can be more than one “original” language, both for document content and in document metadata. The assumption that any other languages in addition to a primary language are “translations” is false.
- Whether a version of some portion of text or metadata is a “translation” is only one of many things we might know about that content, not a primary defining aspect of the content.
Since one of the primary goals of BITS is that a JATS journal article can be transformed
into a BITS book part (such as a chapter) with very minimal, largely metadata transformations,
the BITS Committee chose to follow JATS in making multi-language capabilities available.
In modifying BITS to enable better modeling of multi-language materials, we have added
the multi-lang attributes (see Multiple Languages/scripts), an extension mechanism to identify where the same content occurs in multiple languages.
Also as part of the multi-language changes, we have deprecated the following elements:
Instead of using any of the elements above named “trans-xxx” (<trans-abstract>, <trans-source>, etc.), the appropriate structure (<abstract>, <source>, etc.) should be repeated as many times as needed, with each repetition identified
by language. Any translations can be explicitly identified at the same time.
Table of Deprecated Elements and Attributes
The BITS Tag Libraries clearly identify each deprecated element or attribute:
- The name of the element or attribute concludes with the text “(deprecated)”.
- The Remarks section of each of the deprecated structures provides information on how BITS recommends information formerly encoded with that structure be encoded in the future.
All of the following structures now deprecated in BITS 2.2:
| Deprecated Structure | Replacements |
|---|---|
| <chapter-title> | Inside citations, Replace with <part-title> |
| <collab> | Replace with <collab-name> (just the name of the collaboration) or <collab-wrap> (container element for all things collaboration), depending on context |
| <collab-alternatives> | Replace with <collab-name-alternatives> |
| <inline-supplementary-material> | Replace such references with <inline-graphic>, <inline-media>, or <ext-link>, as appropriate. |
| <std> | Replace with <pub-id> |
| <std-organization> | Do not use |
| <trans-abstract> | Repeat <abstract> with @xml:lang and any multi-language attributes desired |
| <trans-source> | Repeat <source> with @xml:lang and any multi-language attributes desired |
| <trans-subtitle> |
In any of the title-group elements (<book-title-group>, <title-group>, <index-title-group>, <toc-title-group>), Repeat <subtitle> element with @xml:lang and any multi-language attributes desired
In citations and related articles, the element <trans-subtitle> has never been allowed. The subtitle should be merged with the appropriate title
element
|
| <trans-title> |
In any of the title-group elements (<book-title-group>, <title-group>, <index-title-group>, <toc-title-group>), repeat the appropriate title element with @xml:lang and any multi-language attributes desired
In citations and related articles, repeat <article-title> or <part-title>
|
| <trans-title-group> |
Instead of <trans-title-group>, repeat any of the title-group elements (<book-title-group>, <title-group>, <index-title-group>, <toc-title-group>) with @xml:lang and any multi-language attributes desired
|
| @mime-subtype | This attribute is deprecated; best practice is to avoid using @mime-subtype as a separate attribute. Instead, combine @mimetype and @mime-subtype values, separated by a slash, inside the @mimetype attribute (e.g., mimetype="application/excel") |