Tagging Affiliations

Affiliations are commonly listed for some or all authors of an article to provide information about their company, university or other institution, and their contact information. In print, affiliations are commonly displayed in the footnote area, with footnote numbers or other symbols to identify which contributors go with which affiliations. Because this Tag Set has been written as a conversion target, this Tag Set allows more than one way to associate an author with his or her affiliation(s). For example, an author’s affiliation(s) may be recorded as part of an individual contributor (<contrib>) or as author notes or footnotes (<author-notes>). This allows an author, archive, or publisher to choose the tagging closest to their practice.
In this Tag Set, the element to hold affiliation information is <aff>, which allows many sub-elements, with the address and address-linking elements being most common. <aff> typically occurs inside <contrib> or <contrib-group>, although it is also permitted inside other elements such as <article-meta>, <collab>, <front-stub>, <person-group>, or <sig-block>, or with other affiliations inside an <aff-alternatives>.
When the affiliation is grouped with the contributors’ names, there is no need to link the name and affiliations explicitly. However, when the name and affiliation are separated, they should be explicitly linked, using the <xref> element.
Each method is described in the following list, then in more detail below, with an example. The same method should be used consistently throughout an article, even if it is not possible to make all articles the same. Ways of placing the affiliations include:
Per-contributor affiliation
The <aff> for each contributor may be put directly within the corresponding <contrib> element, commonly at the end. If two or more contributors have the same affiliation, the affiliation is repeated for each contributor to which it applies, inside each <contrib> element.
Single group affiliation
When all contributors in a <contrib-group> share the same affiliation, the <aff> element should be placed just inside the end of the <contrib-group>, thus marking it as the affiliation for all.
Post-contrib-group multiple affiliation
When the contributors in a single <contrib-group> have different affiliations, an <aff> element should be provided for each distinct affiliation, and all the affiliations should be placed in <article-meta>, immediately following the <contrib-group>. Each contributor (<contrib>) should be linked to the appropriate <aff> element(s) with an <xref> element inside each <contrib>.
The @ref-type attribute on the <xref> should be set to “aff”, and the @rid attribute should point to the corresponding <aff> using the XML ID of the <aff>. Multiple contributors with the same affiliations will each have an <xref> specifying the same ID.
Text affiliation
In some cases, affiliation information is presented as a single block of text where the relationships between author and affiliation cannot be separated easily. In such cases, place the entire affiliation block in one <aff> element. There may be multiple <label> elements in this text-block affiliation.
Footnote affiliation
Some affiliations have a print layout very similar to that used for footnotes. Affiliations may be put in <fn> elements instead of <aff> elements, placed as for any of the methods described above. For convenience, this documentation refers to those methods by adding “footnotes” to each of the names given above. This section does not show separate examples for this variation, since they would differ only by the change from <aff> to <fn>. Affiliation footnotes may be numbered in sequence with regular footnotes, or may use distinct symbols (for example, letters instead of numbers) indicated using the @symbol attribute. The <fn> element(s) may also provide an @fn-type attribute, with a value such as “current-aff” or “corresp”, so processing software can easily distinguish them from other footnotes.
Affiliation tagging should be placed in logical locations in the document. For example, do not tag an affiliation within a <contrib-group> that has no contributors with that affiliation, or in a <sig-block> at the end of a document when the <contrib> is in the article metadata (<article-meta>).
In some cases, one or more authors will be designated “corresponding” authors (that is, readers should contact them rather than other authors concerning the article). The <contrib> element provides the @corresp attribute, which should be set to “yes” for those authors.

Per-contributor Affiliation

This style is appropriate when different contributors each have their own affiliations.
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
    <name>
      <surname>Tanabe</surname>
      <given-names>Lorraine</given-names>
    </name>
    <aff>National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of
    Medicine, NIH, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA</aff>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Thom</surname>
      <given-names>Lynne H.</given-names>
    </name>
    <aff>Consolidated Safety Services, 10335 Democracy Lane, Suite 202,
    Fairfax, VA, USA</aff>
  </contrib>
</contrib-group>

Single Group Affiliation

This form is appropriate when one affiliation applies for all of the contributors in a <contrib-group>.
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Marth</surname>
      <given-names>Gabor T.</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="FN1">1</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Czabarka</surname>
      <given-names>Eva</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Murvai</surname>
      <given-names>Janos</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Sherry</surname>
      <given-names>Stephen T.</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <aff id="FN1">National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library 
  of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894</aff>
</contrib-group>
This style is also appropriate when there are multiple <contrib-group> elements, but the contributors in any particular one share the same affiliation.
...
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
    <name>
      <surname>Tanabe</surname>
      <given-names>Lorraine</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Xie</surname>
      <given-names>Natalie</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <aff>National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of
  Medicine, NIH, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA</aff>
</contrib-group>
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Thom</surname>
      <given-names>Lynne H.</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Matten</surname>
      <given-names>Wayne</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <aff>Consolidated Safety Services, 10335 Democracy Lane, Suite 202,
  Fairfax, VA, USA</aff>
</contrib-group>
...

Post-contrib-group Multiple Affiliations

This form is appropriate when there are complex relationships between multiple affiliations and contributors, for example, if there are 3 or 4 affiliations, and several members of different <contrib-group>s are associated with each.
...
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Moroz</surname>
      <given-names>Olga V.</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Harkiolaki</surname>
      <given-names>Maria</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Galperin</surname>
      <given-names>Michael</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A3">3</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Vagin</surname>
      <given-names>Alexei A.</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Gonz&#x00E1;lez-Pacanowska</surname>
      <given-names>Delores</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A4">4</xref>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Wilson</surname>
      <given-names>Keith S.</given-names>
    </name>
    <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
    <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="FN1">*</xref>
  </contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff id="A1">
  <label>1</label>Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry,
  University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5YW, UK;
</aff>
<aff id="A2">
  <label>2</label>Cancer Research UK Cell Signalling Group and Weatherall
  Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK;
</aff>
<aff id="A3">
  <label>3</label>National Center for Biotechnology Information, National
  Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894,
  USA;
</aff>
<aff id="A4">
  <label>4</label>Instituto de Parasitolog&#x00ED;a y Biomedicina
  "L&#x00F3;pez-Neyra", C/Ventanilla, 11. 18001 Granada, Spain
</aff>
...

Text Affiliation

This form is appropriate when the affiliation information has been presented as a single block of text in which the relationships between author and affiliation are complex and cannot be separated easily.
<contrib-group>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Soares</surname>
      <given-names>Heloisa P.</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Kumar</surname>
      <given-names>Ambuj</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Daniels</surname>
      <given-names>Stephanie</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Swann</surname>
      <given-names>Suzanne</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Cantor</surname>
      <given-names>Alan</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Hozo</surname>
      <given-names>Iztok</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Clark</surname>
      <given-names>Mike</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Serdarevic</surname>
      <given-names>Fadila</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Gwede</surname>
      <given-names>Clement</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Trotti</surname>
      <given-names>Andy</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <contrib contrib-type="author">
    <name>
      <surname>Djulbegovic</surname>
      <given-names>Benjamin</given-names>
    </name>
  </contrib>
  <aff>Author Affiliations: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center &amp; Research Institute at 
  University of South Florida, Tampa (Drs Soares, Kumar, Cantor, Serdarevic, Gwede, 
  Trotti, and Djulbegovic and Ms Daniels); Department of Statistics, Radiation Therapy 
  Oncology Group, Philadelphia, Pa (Dr Swann); Department of Mathematics, University 
  of Indiana Northwest, Gary (Dr Hozo); UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford, England 
  (Dr Clark).</aff>
</contrib-group>

<contrib-group>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Leverenz</surname>
      <given-names>James B.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Fishel</surname>
      <given-names>Mark A.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Peskind</surname>
      <given-names>Elaine R.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Montine</surname>
      <given-names>Thomas J.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
    <degrees>PhD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Nochlin</surname>
      <given-names>David</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Steinbart</surname>
      <given-names>Ellen</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>RN, MA</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Raskin</surname>
      <given-names>Murray A.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Schellenberg</surname>
      <given-names>Gerard D.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>PhD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Bird</surname>
      <given-names>Thomas D.</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <contrib>
    <name>
      <surname>Tsuang</surname>
      <given-names>Debby</given-names>
    </name>
    <degrees>MD, MS</degrees>
  </contrib>
  <aff>Author Affiliations: Parkinson's Disease (Dr Leverenz), Mental Illness 
  (Drs Leverenz, Peskind, Raskind, Schellenberg, and Tsuang and Ms Steinbart), 
  Research, Education, and Clinical Centers, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health 
  Care System, Seattle, Wash; and Departments of Neurology (Drs Leverenz, 
  Fishel, and Bird) and Psychiatry and Behavioral Science (Drs Leverenz, 
  Peskind, Raskind, and Tsuang), Division of Neuropathology, Department of 
  Pathology (Drs Montine and Nochlin), and Division of Gerontology/Geriatrics, 
  Department of Medicine  (Dr Schellenberg), University of Washington School 
  of Medicine, Seattle.</aff>
</contrib-group>

Multiple Versions of an Affiliation

Sometimes an affiliation is present in multiple languages or multiple scripts, and care should be taken so that it does not appear to multiply the number of affiliations. (Three versions of the name of a university is not the same as three different universities.) The @id attribute that is normally placed onto the <aff> element should be placed on the alternatives wrapper element instead, to make the connection between the contributors and the affiliations.
The <aff-alternatives> element is intended to collect multiple versions of a single affiliation. Like the similar construction for graphics <alternatives>, it will be up to an application how multiple versions of a single affiliation are to be processed. The @xml:lang attributes can be used to distinguish the different affiliations for separate processing. The <aff-alternatives> element can be used to record:
  • The name of an affiliation in multiple languages (For example, a university name in Korean or Chinese-Han characters and a transliterated version of the same name in the Latin alphabet);
  • The name of an affiliation in multiple language/script combinations (For example, a university name in Japanese [xml:lang="ja-Jpan" for Han + Hiragana + Katakana] and the same university name written in Kanji [xml:lang="ja-Hani"]);
  • An alternate affiliation for sorting or searching (For example, a name in French with accented letters, such as an “é”, and a plain lower-ASCII version of the same name with the “é” replaced by “e”. The attribute @specific-use attribute can be used to indicate that the ASCII version is only for “sort”, not for display.); or
  • 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”.)
... 
<article-meta>
<title-group>...</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib>
<name><surname>Smythe-Barring</surname>
<given-names>John</given-names></name>
<aff-alternatives id="aff1">
<aff> 
<institution xml:lang="ja-Jpan">国立言語学博物館</institution>
</aff>
<aff>
<institution xml:lang="en">National Museum of 
 Linguistics</institution>
</aff>
</aff-alternatives>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
...
</article-meta>
...

Journal Publishing Tag Library NISO JATS Version 1.2d2 (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2015)

Version of June 2018

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