The Publisher Item Identifier (PII) is a
unique identifier
A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems. ...
used by a number of
scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...
publishers to identify documents. It uses the pre-existing
ISSN
An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
or
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
A different ISBN is assigned to e ...
of the publication in question, and adds a
character for source publication type, an item number, and a check digit.
The system was adopted in 1996 by the
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...
, the
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...
, the
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
,
Elsevier Science
Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', '' Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', t ...
, and the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE ...
.
Format
A PII (pii) is a 17-character string, consisting of:
* one character to indicate source publication type: "S" = serial with ISSN, "B" = book with ISBN
* ISSN (8 digits) or
ISBN (10 characters) of the serial or book to which the publication item is primarily assigned
* in the case of serials an additional two digit number to pad the difference between the 8-digit ISSN and an ISBN (suggested are the last two digits of calendar year of the date of assignment, which is not necessarily identical to the cover date)
* a 5-digit number assigned by the publisher that is unique to the publication item within the serial or book
* a check digit (0-9 or X)
When a PII is printed (as opposed to stored in a database), the 17-character string may be extended with punctuation characters to make it more readable to humans, as in Sxxxx-xxxx(yy)iiiii-d or Bx-xxx-xxxxx-x/iiiii-d.
Example
The PII ()- can be broken down as, where
* - Indicates the publication is a serial, not a book
* - for the publication ''
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters''
* - Padding/Year Code (1996)
* - Publisher's internal number
* - Check digit
This is the PII for a scientific paper by Silvie Géhanne et al.:
*
DOI
PII codes can be used as the ''item ID'' in a
DOI identifier.
In the previous example, the number
10.1016
is the DOI's ''publisher ID'' (
Elsevier
Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...
), a
slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash th ...
acts as a separator, followed by the PII code
S0960-894X(96)00515-X
.
See also
*
Serial Item and Contribution Identifier
The Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI) was a code (ANSI/ NISO standard Z39.56-1996 2002 used to uniquely identify specific volumes, articles or other identifiable parts of a serial. It was "intended primarily for use by those membe ...
(SICI)
*
Digital Object Identifier
A digital object identifier (DOI) is a persistent identifier or handle used to uniquely identify various objects, standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). DOIs are an implementation of the Handle System; th ...
(DOI)
*
OpenURL
An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website.
OpenURLs are similar to permalinks because they are permanently connected to a r ...
References
External links
*
Identifiers
{{publishing-stub