Remarks

The <name-alternatives> element is intended to collect multiple versions of a single name without appearing to multiply the number of names. (Three versions of a name is not the same as three different contributors.) Like the similar construction for graphics <alternatives>, it will be up to an application how multiple versions of a single name are to be processed. The @specific-use, @content-type, and @xml:lang attributes can be used to distinguish the cases for separate processing.

Usage: The <name-alternatives> element can be used to record:

• A name in multiple languages (For example, a name in Korean or Chinese-Han characters and a transliterated version of the same name in the Latin alphabet);
• A name in multiple language/script combinations (For example, a name in Japanese [xml:lang="ja-Jpan" for Han + Hiragana + Katakana] and the same name written in Kanji [xml:lang="ja-Hani"]);
• An alternate name for sorting or searching (For example, a name in French with accented letters [such as an “é”] and a plain-letter lower-ASCII version of the same name with “é” replaced by “e” for sorting. The @specific-use attribute can be used to indicate that the ASCII version is only for “sort”, not for display.);
• An alternate name indexing (For example, an XML database may need to record all the name variants found for an individual from “President Thomas Jefferson” to “Long Tom”, with @specific-use used to mark “primary” and “index”.); or
• Both validated and known-to-be-incorrect names. (For example, in the PubMed DTD, there is an attribute called “ValidYN” [valid yes or no], that can be used to record the fact that one version of a name was received, found to be in error and corrected. Only the corrected version should be displayed, but both name variants might be used for searching.)

ID Attribute: The names inside a <name-alternatives> do not take a unique identifier because they are all the same name. This Tag Set assumes that any necessary unique identifier will be placed on the enclosing element (such as the <contrib> element or the <principal-investigator> element) that contains the name alternatives.

String Name: Both <name> and <string-name> are allowed inside <name-alternatives>. Within a <name-alternatives> grouping, the element <string-name> can be used to hold an undifferentiated transliteration (one not tagged with specific name elements such as <surname>) or a search-specific name.

Best Practice: For this Tag Set, the <string-name> within a <name-alternatives> should not be used for the primary name. The primary name should be tagged with a <name> element.