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<caption> Caption of a Figure, Table, etc.

Container element for the textual description that is associated with an object (for example, with a <fig> or <table-wrap>).

Usage/Remarks

A caption is a visible textual description of a table, figure, or similar object. In print or display, a caption is usually recognizable because it is not part of the ordinary text flow; it sits just under, above, beside, or in the same small window or page area as the tabular portions of a table or the graphical portions of a figure. A <caption> may contain many kinds of text associated with its object, for example, a title (tagged as <title>), one or more descriptive paragraphs (tagged as <p>), or a legend (which might more properly be identified in a separate <legend> element outside the <caption>).
The text of the caption does not typically include words such as “Figure 3.” or “Table 11-a”. These labels may not be present in the XML file, since many publishers choose to generate such text at display time, but if they are wanted in the source XML, they may be encoded using the <label> element.

Best Practice

In many tag sets, a distinction is made between the caption of a figure/table/etc. and its title. There may be two separate elements (<caption> and <title>), or the first sentence of the caption may be set off typographically from the rest of the caption to indicate that it is a title; for example, the first sentence may be italic or bold. In either case, if it is obvious that the figure/table/etc. contains both a title and a caption, both the title and the caption should be tagged during conversion, and the title should be moved inside the caption if it is outside.
Attributes
content-type
specific-use
style

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
xml:lang
Models and Context
May be contained in
<boxed-text>, <chem-struct-wrap>, <disp-formula>, <disp-formula-group>, <fig>, <fig-group>, <graphic>, <media>, <supplementary-material>, <table-wrap>, <table-wrap-group>
Description
The following, in order:
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  caption      %caption-model;                              >
Expanded Content Model

(title?, (p)*)

Tagged Samples
In figure (with and without title) 
...
<sec id="bid.36">
 <title>Microbial Genomes</title>
 <p>... A CON entry, containing instructions on how to put
  the pieces back together, is also made. The CON entry
  contains descriptor information, such as source organism
  and references, as well as a join statement providing
  explicit instructions on how to generate the complete
  genome from the pieces. The Accession number assigned 
  to the CON record is also added as a secondary Accession
  number on each of the pieces that make up the complete
  genome (see <xref ref-type="fig" rid="bid.37">Figure 2</xref>).
  <fig id="bid.37">
   <label>2</label>
   <caption>
    <title>A GenBank CON entry for a complete bacterial 
     genome.</title>
    <p>The information toward the <italic>bottom</italic> of the 
     record describes how to generate the complete genome
     from the pieces.</p>
   </caption>
   <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
     xlink:href="ch1f2" mimetype="image/jpeg"/>
  </fig>
 </p>
 ...
</sec>
...
... 
<fig id="f8" orientation="portrait" position="float">
 <label>FIG. 8.</label>
 <caption>
  <p>Time difference between events F and A as a function of the 
   length of entering plug for bifurcations B to BXXX, where X stands 
   for 0 or 1.</p>
 </caption>
 <graphic orientation="landscape" xlink:href="f8"/>
</fig>
...
Table captions 
...
<table-wrap id="bid.269">
 <label>1</label>
 <caption>
  <title>Files on the taxonomy FTP site.</title>
 </caption>
 <table frame="box" rules="all" cellpadding="5">...</table>
 <table-wrap-foot>
  <fn symbol="a" id="mul2">
   <p>For non-UNIX users, the file taxdmp.zip includes 
    the same (zip compressed) data.</p>
  </fn>
 </table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
...
...
<table-wrap id="t2" orientation="portrait" position="float">
 <label>Table II.</label>
 <caption>
  <p>Models to approximate the bound frequencies as waves 
   in X→M (<inline-graphic id="g1" xlink:href="d1"/>: Rotational, 
   <inline-graphic id="g2" xlink:href="d2"/>: Vibrate in <italic>y</italic> 
   direction, <inline-graphic id="g3" xlink:href="d3"/>: Vibrate in
   <italic>x</italic> direction, <inline-graphic id="g4" xlink:href="d4"/>: 
   Vibrate mainly in <italic>y</italic> direction including a small 
   portion of vibration in <italic>x</italic> direction, 
   <inline-graphic id="g5" xlink:href="d5"/>: Vibrate mainly in 
   <italic>x</italic> direction including a small portion of vibration 
   in <italic>y</italic> direction).</p>
 </caption>
 <table border="1">...</table>
</table-wrap>
...
Multiple graphic captions 
...
<fig id="F4">
 <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
   xlink:href="pq0405498004" specific-use="internet">
  <caption specific-use="short">
   <p>Functional and evolutionary relationships between
    polyadenylation machineries and telomerases. The
    functional relationships described here are shaded.</p>
  </caption>
  <caption specific-use="long">
   <p>Functional and evolutionary relationships between
    polyadenylation machineries and telomerases. The thick
    rectangular frame encompasses the Hfq and PABP II
    polyadenylation stimulatory factors. Hfq and PABP II are
    linked to enzymes that they modulate by thin rectangular
    frames. Members of the nucleotidyltransferase family are
    surrounded by an oval, and telomerase-related enzymes
    that maintain the 5&#x2032; extremities of RNA tagged
    by a hairpin structure are circled. The functional
    relationships described here are shaded.</p>
  </caption>
 </graphic>
</fig>
...
Figure caption with links to media objects 
...
<fig id="f1" orientation="portrait" position="float">
 <label>FIG. 1.</label>
 <caption>
  <p>(a) Schematic of the working principles of HFM, (b) a typical application
   scheme for an electric bias in HFM, (c) regulation the conformations and
   dynamics (trapping, concentration, and sudden stretching) of λ-DNA molecules
   in HFM, and (d) schematic of the trapping location regulation (enhanced online).
   [URL: <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4762852.1">
   http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4762852.1</ext-link>]
   <alternatives>
    <media id="v1" mime-subtype="avi" mimetype="video" orientation="portrait"
      position="anchor" specific-use="original-format" xlink:href="v1"/>
    <media mime-subtype="mpeg" mimetype="video" orientation="portrait"
      position="anchor" specific-use="archival-format" xlink:href="v1"/>
    <media mime-subtype="x-flv" mimetype="video" orientation="portrait"
      position="anchor" specific-use="online-format" xlink:href="v1"/>
   </alternatives>
  </p>
 </caption>
 <graphic xlink:href="f1"/>
 <graphic id="f1a"  xlink:href="dummy1.png"/>
 <graphic id="f1b"  xlink:href="dummy2.png"/>
 <graphic id="f1c"  xlink:href="dummy3.png"/>
 <graphic id="f1d"  xlink:href="dummy4.png"/>
</fig>
...
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