Serial Item and Contribution Identifier
Encyclopedia
The Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI) is a code (ANSI
/NISO
standard Z39.56) used to uniquely identify
specific volumes, articles or other identifiable parts of a periodical. It is “intended primarily for use by those members of the bibliographic community involved in the use or management of serial titles and their contributions”.
, which identifies an entire periodical (similar to the way an ISBN number identifies a specific book). The ISSN applies to the entire publication, however, including every volume ever printed, so this more specific identifier was developed by the Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee (SISAC) to allow references to specific parts of a journal.
The variable-length, free of charge, code is compatible with other identifiers, such as DOI
, PII
and URN
. Prior to January 2009, SICIs were valid DOI
suffixes for registration at the CrossRef registration agency. However, to accommodate a security problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, they decided that they would soon refuse to register DOI suffixes that contain the colon character.
The SICI is a recognized international standard and is in wide use by publishers and the bibliographic community, primarily as an aid to finding existing articles or issues. JSTOR
adopted SICIs in 2001 as the primary article identifier, due to their persistence and applicability to the many types of journal content found in JSTOR's archive.
Item
SICI
(199412)
45:10
737
TIODIM
>
3
TX
2-
M
SICI
and prefixed.
INFO
, the SICI is percent-encoded
and prefixed. For example, to create a URN for a specific article “From text to hypertext by indexing” in the journal ACM Transactions on Information Systems:
SICI
URN
This could then be used to refer to the article inside an HTML citation (in the
s:
An internet draft
proposal to officially register the SICI namespace
for URNs with IANA
was made in 2002, but is currently dormant.
identifier. In the following example, the number 10.1002 is the DOI's publisher ID, a slash
acts as a separator, and the rest, which is publisher-specific, is the SICI code:
Ansi
Ansi is a village in Kaarma Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia....
/NISO
Niso
Niso is a genus of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Eulimidae. -Species:According to the World Register of Marine Species the following species with accepted names are included within the genus Niso * Niso aeglees Bush, 1885* Niso albida...
standard Z39.56) used to uniquely identify
Unique identifier
With reference to a given set of objects, a unique identifier is any identifier which is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose...
specific volumes, articles or other identifiable parts of a periodical. It is “intended primarily for use by those members of the bibliographic community involved in the use or management of serial titles and their contributions”.
Description
It is an extension of the International Standard Serial NumberInternational Standard Serial Number
An International Standard Serial Number is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodicals published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN...
, which identifies an entire periodical (similar to the way an ISBN number identifies a specific book). The ISSN applies to the entire publication, however, including every volume ever printed, so this more specific identifier was developed by the Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee (SISAC) to allow references to specific parts of a journal.
The variable-length, free of charge, code is compatible with other identifiers, such as DOI
Digital object identifier
A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...
, PII
Publisher Item Identifier
The Publisher Item Identifier is a unique identifier used by a number of scientific journal publishers to identify documents . It uses the pre-existing ISSN or ISBN of the publication in question, and adds a character for source publication type, an item number, and a check digit.The system was...
and URN
Uniform Resource Name
A uniform resource name is a uniform resource identifier that uses the urn scheme and does not imply availability of the identified resource. Both URNs and URLs are URIs, and a particular URI may be a name and a locator at the same time.The functional requirements for uniform resource names are...
. Prior to January 2009, SICIs were valid DOI
Digital object identifier
A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...
suffixes for registration at the CrossRef registration agency. However, to accommodate a security problem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, they decided that they would soon refuse to register DOI suffixes that contain the colon character.
The SICI is a recognized international standard and is in wide use by publishers and the bibliographic community, primarily as an aid to finding existing articles or issues. JSTOR
JSTOR
JSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
adopted SICIs in 2001 as the primary article identifier, due to their persistence and applicability to the many types of journal content found in JSTOR's archive.
Details
The SICI code is composed of three segments, intended to be both human-readable and easy for machines to parse automatically. The following example SICI is explained below:Item
- Abstract from Lynch, Clifford A. “The Integrity of Digital Information; Mechanics and Definitional Issues.” JASIS 45:10 (Dec. 1994) p. 737-44
SICI
- 0002-8231(199412)45:10<737:TIODIM>2.3.TX;2-M
Item segment
0002-8231- This is the ISSN for the periodical, in this case the Journal of the American Society for Information Science
(199412)
- The chronology part is in parentheses and identifies the date of publication. In this case, it is signified by year and month; 1994 December
45:10
- The enumeration part signifies the volume and number; Vol. 45, no. 10.
Contribution segment
<- Signifies the start of the contribution segment
737
- Location code: signifies the page number, frame number, reel number, etc. In this case, page 737
TIODIM
- Title code: based on the title of the article. In this case, an initialism: “The Integrity of Digital Information; Mechanics and Definitional Issues”.
>
- Signifies the end of the contribution segment
Control segment
2- Code Structure Identifier (CSI) for the type of SICI being constructed
3
- Derivative Part Identifier (DPI) identifies a part of the contribution, such as a table of contents or abstract
TX
- Format identifier two-letter code signifying the way content is presented. In this case, TX = printed text
2-
- Standard version number
M
- Check characterCheck digitA check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection, the decimal equivalent of a binary checksum. It consists of a single digit computed from the other digits in the message....
allows a computer to detect errors in the code, similar to ISBN's check digit
Examples
Item- Bjorner, Susanne. “Who Are These Independent Information Brokers?” Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, Feb-Mar. 1995, Vol. 21, no. 3, page 12
SICI
- 0095-4403(199502/03)21:3<12:WATIIB>2.0.TX;2-J
Information
To use as an info URI, the SICI is percent-encodedPercent-encoding
Percent-encoding, also known as URL encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier under certain circumstances. Although it is known as URL encoding it is, in fact, used more generally within the main Uniform Resource Identifier set, which includes both Uniform...
and prefixed.
INFO
- info:sici/1046-8188(199501)13:1%3C69:FTTHBI%3E2.0.TX;2-4
URN
To use in a URNURN
An urn is a vase-like container.Urn or URN may also refer to:*Uniform Resource Name, a subset of URI*User Requirements Notation, an ITU-T standard*University Radio Nottingham, a university radio station in Nottingham, England...
, the SICI is percent-encoded
Percent-encoding
Percent-encoding, also known as URL encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier under certain circumstances. Although it is known as URL encoding it is, in fact, used more generally within the main Uniform Resource Identifier set, which includes both Uniform...
and prefixed. For example, to create a URN for a specific article “From text to hypertext by indexing” in the journal ACM Transactions on Information Systems:
SICI
- 1046-8188(199501)13:1<69:FTTHBI>2.0.TX;2-4
URN
- URN:SICI:1046-8188(199501)13:1%3C69:FTTHBI%3E2.0.TX;2-4
This could then be used to refer to the article inside an HTML citation (in the
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
s:
A model is presented for converting a collection of documents to hypertext
by means of indexing. The documents are assumed to be semistructured, i.e.,
their text is a hierarchy of parts, and some of the parts consist of natural
language. The model is intended as a framework for specifying hypertextual
reading capabilities for specific application areas and for developing new
automated tools for the conversion of semistructured text to hypertext.
An internet draft
Internet Draft
Internet Drafts is a series of working documents published by the IETF. Typically, they are drafts for RFCs, but may be other works in progress not intended for publication as RFCs. It is considered inappropriate to rely on Internet Drafts for reference purposes...
proposal to officially register the SICI namespace
Namespace
In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....
for URNs with IANA
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...
was made in 2002, but is currently dormant.
DOI
SICI codes can be used as the item ID in a DOIDigital object identifier
A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...
identifier. In the following example, the number 10.1002 is the DOI's publisher ID, a slash
Slash (punctuation)
The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:...
acts as a separator, and the rest, which is publisher-specific, is the SICI code:
- 10.1002/0002-8231
(199601)47:1<23:TDOMII>2.0.TX;2-2
See also
- The BICIBook Item and Component IdentifierThe Book Item and Component Identifier, or BICI, is a draft standard of the United States National Information Standards Organization that would provide a unique identifier for items or components within a book or publication to which an ISBN has been assigned. It is related to the Serial Item and...
is a draft with a very similar format and functionality, using an ISBN instead of an ISSN, used to identify components of a book. - ISSN
- DOIDigital object identifierA digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...
- NISONisoNiso is a genus of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Eulimidae. -Species:According to the World Register of Marine Species the following species with accepted names are included within the genus Niso * Niso aeglees Bush, 1885* Niso albida...
- OpenURLOpenURLOpenURL 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...
- tries to solve similar problems like SICI
External links
- ANSI/NISO Z39.56 - Serial Item and Contribution Identifiers (SICI)
- ANSI/NISO Z39.56-1996 (Version 2) — Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI)
- SICI and BICI: Identifiers for Serials and Books — PowerPoint document contains examples
- Identifiers and Their Role In Networked Information Applications