Web-based tool to generate COinS metadata for bibliographic references
📖 Read the Wiki: https://github.com/mauprogramador/coins-web-generator/wiki
ContextObjects in Spans (COinS) is a method to embed bibliographic metadata in the HTML code of web pages. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata.
We will follow the ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004 (OpenURL 1.0) standard, based on KEV formats and registered registries (including DCMI). Version of the ContextObject: Z39.88-2004.
Example:
<span
class="Z3988"
title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.issn=1045-4438"
></span>Below are the five core formats containing the majority of fields that remain highly relevant.
Format URI: info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal
| Key | Name |
|---|---|
ctx_ver |
Context Version (Z39.88-2004) |
rft_val_fmt |
Format URI |
rft.genre |
Genre |
rft.atitle |
Article / Paper Title |
rft.jtitle |
Journal / Publication Title |
rft.aulast |
Primary Author Last Name |
rft.aufirst |
Primary Author Given Name |
rft.au |
Full Author Name |
rft.aucorp |
Corporate / Organizational Author |
rft.date |
Date (Year) |
rft_id |
Identifier (URI / URL / ID / DOI) |
rft.volume |
Volume |
rft.issue |
Issue |
rft.spage |
Start Page |
rft.epage |
End Page |
rft.pages |
Page Range (Free-text) |
rft.artnum |
Article Number |
rft.issn |
ISSN |
rft.eissn |
Eletronic ISSN |
rft.isbn |
ISBN |
| Genre | Name |
|---|---|
journal |
Journal |
issue |
Issue |
article |
Article / Paper |
conference |
Conference |
proceeding |
Proceeding |
preprint |
Preprint |
unknown |
Unknown |
Format URI: info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book
| Key | Name |
|---|---|
ctx_ver |
Context Version (Z39.88-2004) |
rft_val_fmt |
Format URI |
rft.genre |
Genre |
rft.btitle |
Book Title |
rft.atitle |
Chapter/Item Title |
rft.aulast |
Primary Author Last Name |
rft.aufirst |
Primary Author Given Name |
rft.au |
Full Author Name |
rft.aucorp |
Corporate / Organizational Author |
rft.date |
Date (Year) |
rft.pub |
Publisher |
rft.place |
Place of Publication |
rft.edition |
Edition |
rft.series |
Series Title |
rft.spage |
Start Page |
rft.epage |
End Page |
rft.pages |
Page Range (Free-text) |
rft.issn |
ISSN |
rft.isbn |
ISBN |
| Genre | Name |
|---|---|
book |
Book |
bookitem |
Section / Chapter of a Book |
conference |
Conference |
proceeding |
Proceeding |
report |
Report / Technical Report |
document |
General Document |
unknown |
Unknown |
Format URI: info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation
| Key | Field |
|---|---|
ctx_ver |
Context Version (Z39.88-2004) |
rft_val_fmt |
Format URI |
rft.title |
Title |
rft.aulast |
Primary Author Last Name |
rft.aufirst |
Primary Author Given Name |
rft.au |
Full Author Name |
rft.date |
Date (Year) |
rft_id |
Identifier (URI / URL / ID / DOI) |
rft.inst |
Institution |
rft.advisor |
Advisor |
rft.tpages |
Total Pages |
rft.isbn |
ISBN |
rft.degree |
Degree |
rft.co |
Country |
Format URI: info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:patent
| Key | Field |
|---|---|
ctx_ver |
Context Version (Z39.88-2004) |
rft_val_fmt |
Format URI |
rft.title |
Title |
rft.invlast |
Inventor Last Name |
rft.invfirst |
Inventor Given Name |
rft.inventor |
Full Inventor Name |
rft.date |
Date |
rft_id |
Identifier (URI / URL / ID / DOI) |
rft.assignee |
Assignee / Owner |
rft.number |
Patent Number |
rft.applnumber |
Application Number |
rft.kind |
Kind Code |
rft.co |
Country |
Format URI: info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dc
| Key | Field |
|---|---|
ctx_ver |
Context Version (Z39.88-2004) |
rft_val_fmt |
Format URI |
rft.title |
Title |
rft.creator |
Primary Creator / Author |
rft.date |
Date (Year) |
rft_id |
Identifier (URI / URL / ID / DOI) |
rft.identifier |
Identifier (URI / URL / ID / DOI) |
rft.subject |
Subject / Topic |
rft.description |
Description |
rft.publisher |
Publisher (Host / Organization / Domain) |
rft.contributor |
Contributor |
rft.type |
Type (DCMI-Type) |
rft.format |
Format (MIME Type / Media Type / Extent) |
rft.source |
Source (URI / URL) |
rft.language |
Language |
rft.relation |
Related Resource (URI / URL) |
rft.coverage |
Extent / Scope (Location / Period / Jurisdiction) |
rft.rights |
Rights / Legal Ownership (Copyright) |
Types URI: DCMI Type Vocabulary
- Collection
- Dataset
- Event
- Image
- InteractiveResource
- MovingImage
- PhysicalObject
- Service
- Software
- Sound
- StillImage
- Text
We will use the Dublin Core format to map General Document, Non-text, and Other Metadata formats by using its Type and Format keys.
| Category | Type | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Software / Library / Framework / API | Software | application/json application/javascript application/octet-stream |
| Web API / Web App / Web Service | Service | text/html application/json application/xml text/xml |
| Website / Web Page | InteractiveResource | text/html application/xhtml+xml |
| Documentation / Manual | InteractiveResource | text/html application/pdf text/markdown text/plain |
| Generic | Text | text/plain text/html application/pdf application/epub+zip |
Tip
Read about MIME/Media Types on AINA.
We decided to omit the Scholarly Service Type format, as it is rarely used and our service is intended to describe reference objects (e.g., books, articles, etc.) rather than resolver service definitions. Consequently, we also decided to replace the Non-text and Other Metadata format with the Dublin Core format, a flexible container that represents the cleanest and most compliant approach. Finally, likewise, many obsolete, ignored, discontinued, or rarely used OpenURL keys (e.g., rft.ssn, rft.quarter, etc.) will also be omitted.
If this work helped you obtain relevant research data, please cite it:
📝 APA
Batista, M. d. S. (2026). COinS Web Generator: Web-based tool to generate COinS metadata for bibliographic references (Version 0.0.1) [Web app]. GitHub. https://github.com/mauprogramador/coins-web-generator.
📝 BibTeX
@misc{batista2026coins,
author = {Batista, M. d. S.},
title = {COinS Web Generator: Web-based tool to generate COinS metadata for bibliographic references},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/mauprogramador/coins-web-generator}},
note = {Web App, v0.0.1. GitHub. Keywords: COinS; OpenURL; Z39.88; Bibliographic References; Bibliographic-metadata; Web App; Citation-generator. MIT License}
}Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.
- COinS. (2025). Wikipedia.
- Using Zotero to create COinS metadata. (2020). Zotero Documentation.
- COinS Generator. (2005). [Arquived]. Openly Informatics.
- OpenURL COinS: A convention to embed bibliographic metadata in HTML. (2009). [Archived]. OCLC New Jersey.
- Z39.88-2004: The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services The Key/Encoded-Value (KEV) Format Implementation Guidelines. (2007). [Archived]. Ann Apps, MIMAS, The University of Manchester.
For questions or concerns please contact me at sir.silvabmauricio@gmail.com.
📄 Attributions • 🧾 License • 🔖 Latest Release • 📑 Changelog • 📖 Wiki