COinS
Encyclopedia
ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method to embed bibliographic
metadata
in the HTML
code of web page
s. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software
to retrieve bibliographic metadata. The metadata can also be sent to an OpenURL
resolver. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book in one's own library.
was created at Ghent University
as framework to provide context-sensitive links
. The OpenURL link server implementation called SFX
was sold to Ex Libris Group which marketed it to libraries, shaping the idea of a “Link resolver”. The OpenURL framework was later standardized as ANSI/NISO Z39.88 in 2004. A core part of OpenURL was the concept of “ContextObjects” as metadata
to describe referenced resources.
In late 2004 Richard Cameron, the creator of CiteULike
brought attention to the need of a standard way to embedding metadata into HTML pages. Daniel Chudnov suggested the use of OpenURL. Embedding OpenURL ContextObjects in HTML had been proposed before by Herbert Van de Sompel and Oren Beit-Arie and a working paper by Chudnov and Jeremy Frumkin. Discussion of the latter on the GPS-PCS mailing list resulted in a draft specification for embedding OpenURLs in HTML which later became COinS.
The adoption of COinS was pushed by various publications and implementations. The specification can now be found at http://ocoins.info/. This page includes specific guides to implement COinS for journal articles and books and a COinS generator.
or the Bibliographic Ontology
.
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...
metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
in the HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
code of web page
Web page
A web page or webpage is a document or information resource that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a monitor or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext...
s. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software
Reference management software
Reference management software, citation management software or personal bibliographic management software is software for scholars and authors to use for recording and utilising bibliographic citations . Once a citation has been recorded, it can be used time and again in generating bibliographies,...
to retrieve bibliographic metadata. The metadata can also be sent to an OpenURL
OpenURL
OpenURL is a standardized format of Uniform Resource Locator intended to enable Internet users to more easily find a copy of a resource that they are allowed to access...
resolver. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book in one's own library.
History
In the late 1990s OpenURLOpenURL
OpenURL is a standardized format of Uniform Resource Locator intended to enable Internet users to more easily find a copy of a resource that they are allowed to access...
was created at Ghent University
Ghent University
Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...
as framework to provide context-sensitive links
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
. The OpenURL link server implementation called SFX
SFX (software)
SFX was the first OpenURL link resolver or link server. It remains the most widely-used OpenURL resolver, being used by over 1,500 libraries.Librarians Herbert van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach and their colleagues at Ghent University in Belgium developed the OpenURL framework from 1998 to 2000....
was sold to Ex Libris Group which marketed it to libraries, shaping the idea of a “Link resolver”. The OpenURL framework was later standardized as ANSI/NISO Z39.88 in 2004. A core part of OpenURL was the concept of “ContextObjects” as metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
to describe referenced resources.
In late 2004 Richard Cameron, the creator of CiteULike
CiteULike
CiteULike is based on the principle of social bookmarking and is aimed to promote and to develop the sharing of scientific references amongst researchers. In the same way that it is possible to catalog web pages or photographs , scientists can share information on academic papers with specific...
brought attention to the need of a standard way to embedding metadata into HTML pages. Daniel Chudnov suggested the use of OpenURL. Embedding OpenURL ContextObjects in HTML had been proposed before by Herbert Van de Sompel and Oren Beit-Arie and a working paper by Chudnov and Jeremy Frumkin. Discussion of the latter on the GPS-PCS mailing list resulted in a draft specification for embedding OpenURLs in HTML which later became COinS.
The adoption of COinS was pushed by various publications and implementations. The specification can now be found at http://ocoins.info/. This page includes specific guides to implement COinS for journal articles and books and a COinS generator.
Summary of the COinS data model
From OpenURL 1.0 COinS borrows one of its serialization formats (“KEV”) and some ContextObject metadata formats included in OpenURL implementation guidelines. The ContextObject implementation guidelines of COinS include four publication types (article with several subtypes, book, patent, and generic) and a couple of simple fields. However the guidelines are not required part of COinS, so the standard does not provide a strict metadata model like Dublin CoreDublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...
or the Bibliographic Ontology
Bibliographic Ontology
The Bibliographic Ontology is an ontology for the semantic Web to describe bibliographic things like books or magazines. It is written in RDF and can be used as a citation ontology, as a document classification ontology, or simply as a way to describe any kind of document in RDF...
.
Use in web sites
The following web sites make use of COinS:- CitebaseCitebaseCitebase Search is an experimental, semi-autonomous citation index for the free, online research literature created by Tim Brody at the University of Southampton, UK. It harvests open access e-prints from OAI-PMH compliant archives, parses and links their references and indexes the metadata in a...
- CiteULikeCiteULikeCiteULike is based on the principle of social bookmarking and is aimed to promote and to develop the sharing of scientific references amongst researchers. In the same way that it is possible to catalog web pages or photographs , scientists can share information on academic papers with specific...
- CopacCopacCopac is a union catalogue which provides free access to the merged online catalogues of many major university research libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus an increasing number of specialist libraries and the British Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library...
- HubMedHubmedHubMed is an alternative, third-party interface to PubMed, the database of biomedical literature produced by the National Library of Medicine. Features include relevance-ranked search results, web feeds of query updates, direct citation export, tagging and graphical display of related articles.-...
- MendeleyMendeleyMendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
- ResearchGateResearchGateResearchGate is a free social networking site and collaboration tool aimed at scientific researchers from all disciplines of science. It provides web applications including semantic searching , file-sharing, publication database sharing , forums, methodology discussions, groups etc. Members can...
- WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
- WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
Server-side applications
Several server-side applications embed COinS:- refbaseRefbaserefbase is web-based institutional repository and reference management software which is often used for self-archiving. refbase is licensed under the GPL and written in PHP and uses a MySQL backend....
- WordPressWordPressWordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
- CMFBibliograpyAT
Client tools
Client tools which can use COinS include:- Bookends (Mac)Bookends (software)Bookends is a commercial reference management software package for Mac OS X that is used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. Its target market is students, academics and professionals. It works with several word processors, including Microsoft Word, Apple...
- LibXLibXLibX is a free, open source scholars' extension for the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers that lets people use services offered by their library. Users can search their library catalog and databases through a search bar or through a context menu...
- MendeleyMendeleyMendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application with Mendeley Web, an online social network for researchers. Mendeley requires the user to...
- Openly Informatics OpenURL Referrer
- ZoteroZoteroZotero is free, open source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials . Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors...
External links
- OpenURL COinS: A Convention to Embed Bibliographic Metadata in HTML
- Using COinS from Max Planck virtual Library
- Introducing COinS: ContextObjects in Spans
- What are COinS? — From Online Computer Library Center
- Citation proposal - for a microformatMicroformatA microformat is a web-based approach to semantic markup which seeks to re-use existing HTML/XHTML tags to convey metadata and other attributes in web pages and other contexts that support HTML, such as RSS...
for the same purpose - KEV implementation guidelines