COinS Web Generator

Web-based tool to generate COinS metadata for bibliographic references

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▶️ Get Started: https://mauprogramador.github.io/coins-web-generator

📖 Read the Wiki: https://github.com/mauprogramador/coins-web-generator/wiki

Overview

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&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.issn=1045-4438"
></span>

Metadata Formats

Below are the five core formats containing the majority of fields that remain highly relevant.

1. Journal

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

1.1. Genres

Genre	Name
journal	Journal
issue	Issue
article	Article / Paper
conference	Conference
proceeding	Proceeding
preprint	Preprint
unknown	Unknown

2. Book

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

2.1. Genres

Genre	Name
book	Book
bookitem	Section / Chapter of a Book
conference	Conference
proceeding	Proceeding
report	Report / Technical Report
document	General Document
unknown	Unknown

3. Dissertation

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

4. Patent

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

5. Dublin Core (DC)

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)

5.1. Types

Types URI: DCMI Type Vocabulary

• Collection
• Dataset
• Event
• Image
• InteractiveResource
• MovingImage
• PhysicalObject
• Service
• Software
• Sound
• StillImage
• Text

About Generic and Custom Formats

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.

About Deprecated Formats and Fields

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.

Citation

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}
}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

References

1. COinS. (2025). Wikipedia.
2. Using Zotero to create COinS metadata. (2020). Zotero Documentation.
3. COinS Generator. (2005). [Arquived]. Openly Informatics.
4. OpenURL COinS: A convention to embed bibliographic metadata in HTML. (2009). [Archived]. OCLC New Jersey.
5. 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.

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For questions or concerns please contact me at sir.silvabmauricio@gmail.com.

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