Referencon

Referencon is a proposed standard framework for representing and exchanging bibliographic references across digital documents. It defines a common data model and serialization formats to enhance interoperability among publishers, repositories, and citation tools. A referencon entry can encode metadata, linkage information, and provenance, enabling consistent rendering of citations and reliable navigation to source materials.

The name is a portmanteau of reference and convention. The concept emerged in scholarly informatics discussions in the early 2020s in response to fragmentation among citation formats. Referencon is not yet adopted as a formal standard by major standards bodies, but it seeks interoperability with established schemas such as Dublin Core, BibTeX, and Crossref metadata, while offering clearer cross-resource linking.

Core components include: a unique identifier (such as a DOI or stable URI); metadata fields for authors, title, container (journal or book), date, and edition; and linking information to target resources. The model supports version history, provenance data, and cross-references. Serializations favored by proponents include JSON-LD and RDF; human-readable forms are optional for display systems.

Adoption is currently experimental, with usage in select digital libraries and publisher prototypes. The framework aims to complement existing standards rather than supplant them, concentrating on robust linking and unambiguous identification. Challenges include coordinating with multiple citation styles, ensuring backward compatibility, and achieving consensus among diverse stakeholders.

Example (JSON-LD):

{

"@context": "https://referencon.org/context.jsonld",

"@type": "Referencon:Reference",

"id": "doi:10.1000/example",

"title": "An Example Article",

"authors": [{"givenName": "A.", "familyName": "Author"}],

"container": "Journal of Examples",

"date": "2023-07-15",

"doi": "10.1000/example",

"uri": "https://doi.org/10.1000/example"

}