Journal Article by Metadata

Scenario

A source database wishes to refer the user to a journal article, but has no identifier (no DOI, no PMID) to attach. The OpenURL carries a complete set of descriptive metadata so that the resolver can match the citation against its knowledge base.

OpenURL

https://resolver.example.edu/openurl?
ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004
&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal
&rft.genre=article
&rft.atitle=Can+Quantum-Mechanical+Description+of+Physical+Reality+Be+Considered+Complete%3F
&rft.jtitle=Physical+Review
&rft.stitle=Phys.+Rev.
&rft.issn=0031-899X
&rft.aulast=Einstein
&rft.aufirst=A.
&rft.au=Podolsky%2C+B.
&rft.au=Rosen%2C+N.
&rft.date=1935-05-15
&rft.volume=47
&rft.issue=10
&rft.spage=777
&rft.epage=780
&rfr_id=info:sid/example.com:database

Decoded

ctx_ver

Z39.88-2004

rft_val_fmt

info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal

rft.genre

article

rft.atitle

Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?

rft.jtitle

Physical Review

rft.stitle

Phys. Rev. (abbreviated journal title)

rft.issn

0031-899X

rft.aulast / rft.aufirst

Einstein / A. (first author split into surname and forename)

rft.au

Podolsky, B. and Rosen, N. (two additional authors, each in a separate rft.au parameter)

rft.date

1935-05-15

rft.volume / rft.issue

47 / 10

rft.spage / rft.epage

777 / 780

rfr_id

info:sid/example.com:database

Notes

• rft.au is repeatable — each additional author has its own rft.au parameter rather than being concatenated.
• The first author is conventionally split across rft.aulast and rft.aufirst for higher matching accuracy, with subsequent authors going to rft.au.
• Including both rft.spage/rft.epage and rft.issn increases the chance that a knowledge-base lookup will succeed even when titles vary in punctuation or transliteration.
• Best practice is to include both an identifier and descriptive metadata when both are known.

Sources

• ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004 (R2010).
• OpenURL on Wikipedia.