Tagging Ordinal Numbers

Cited Edition Statements: Edition statements (<edition>) in JATS journal articles are allowed only within citations (<mixed-citation> or <element-citation>), not in the metadata for the article (<article-meta>). Edition statements inside citations are frequently given as ordinal numbers (first, second, third) and abbreviated with an “st”, “th”, or “rd” suffix. These ordinals may either directly follow the number (4th) or be placed in a superscript following the number (4<sup>th</sup>). JATS allows some flexibility in placing these ordinals, and each publisher or archive will need to decide whether or not these ordinal suffixes are part of the element’s content.
For example, consider the citation that names the edition as “3rd”:
  • Archives and publishers who wish to regularize content for searching can eliminate these extra characters and tag the edition as <edition>3<edition>.
  • Archives who wish to record exactly each detail of the printed volume can retain these extra characters:
    • inside the edition statement: <edition>3<sup>rd</sup><edition>
    • outside the edition statement inside the text of a mixed citation: <edition>3<edition><sup>rd</sup>
    • inside the edition statement, using the @designator attribute to preserve just the number:
      ...
      <edition designator="3">3<sup>rd</sup></edition>
      ...
      
Volume Numbers: In JATS journal articles, the volume number element (<volume>) is used both inside the article metadata and inside citations:
The related <volume-id> element is used to record an identifier, such as a DOI, that describes an entire volume of a journal or series.