Reference data fields

The following is a list of all the data fields in a reference record. A generic label name is in bold face. The table field name, its data type, and field length (amount of data each field can hold) are listed in parenthesis. The field length can be changed with the "...\Tools\DBSys.exe" utility. You can increase the field length to store more data, or decrease it to save some disk space. A brief explanation about each field is also listed.

(Abstract: memo: 256MB) An abstract is a summary of the full content. When you download references from the Web or import references from a commercial citation database provider, a reference most likely comes with an abstract. This abstract is usually provided by the publisher. It is a purely descriptive summary. It is not suited to be used in an annotated bibliography. You should use the Memo field to write a descriptive and critical summary to be used in an annotated bibliography.

(Accession_Num: char: 20) For storing an ID number used by data providers. A lot of citation database providers include their own ID in the export file. You can map such an ID to this field in the import filter. For example, the "PMID" can be imported into this field when searching PubMed. This field can also be used to store any locally-meaningful number, a universal code number, or whatever you need for identifying a record. When you import records from other software and you need to keep the original record IDs, you can create or edit an import filter to map its ID field to the Accession Number field in Biblioscape.

(Address: char: 255) Principle author's mailing address, or the author's affiliation.

(Attachment: char: 255) For storing the full path of the file associated with the reference on your local disk. If the file type is associated with a program, clicking on the attachment button will launch that program and open the file. It works like an email attachment. If the full text of a reference is available in a PDF file on your local computer, you should put the PDF file path in the attachment field. If the PDF is available on the Internet, you should put its URL in the attachment field. Biblioscape can display the PDF inside your Biblioscape preview panel.

When a new database is created, Biblioscape automatically creates a folder called "attachments" under the database folder. If your database was created by an earlier version of Biblioscape, you can create the "attachment" folder manually. It is recommended that all attachment files are kept under this folder. When adding files under this folder to the Attachment filed of a reference, Biblioscape will automatically use the relative path so the links won't be broken when you move a database from one computer to another.

(Authors" char: 255) All authors should be listed in the format "Lastname, firstname middlename" (Smith, Keneth D.) and separated by "; ". The following rules about the author name format apply to all 4 data fields treated as author fields. They include: Authors, Sec_authors, Tert_authors, and Quat_authors. These four author fields are labeled differently for each reference type. To see a complete label list for each reference type, click on the menu command "Tools | Options", then click the "Reference Types" tab.

Author and editor names should be entered into Biblioscape in the following format: “Lastname, Firstname Middlename” (leave out the quotes). Individual author should be separated by a “; ”. You can enter the first name and middle name in full or as initials. Be sure to type a period followed by a space between initials, otherwise the whole set of initials will be interpreted as the first name. Here are some examples of author names in correct format:

Enter all of the authors for a reference. Biblioscape will take care of truncating the list of authors and adding “et al.” if necessary. If you do not know all the author names, put “; et al.,” or “; and others,” at the end of the list so Biblioscape will treat it as the last name and will not try to parse it. A Biblioscape “Authors” and “Editors” field can only take 255 characters at most. If this is not enough for a particular reference, you can put the rest of the author names in another field, for example, in the “Miscellaneous” field.

If a reference has no author, leave the Authors field blank. The output style that you use to generate the bibliography will determine how anonymous references will be treated.

When entering corporate authors, put a comma at the end of the name. Biblioscape will then interpret the whole name as a last name, so it will not be parsed. For example:

For authors with more than one word last names, like “Laurent Duchastel De Montrouge”, you need to enter the last name first followed by a comma and the first name. For example: “Duchastel De Montrouge, Laurent”. For authors with titles, such as “Jr.” or “II”, etc., you need to enter the name as “Lastname, Firstname Middlename, Title”. For example:

If there is no comma in the name, Biblioscape will interpret the last whole word as the last name, the first whole word as the first name, and the rest as the middle name. For example: “Jay Phillips Gibbs” will be interpreted as “Gibbs, Jay Phillips”.

In the Biblioscape Authors and Keywords fields, each author or keyword is separated from others by "; ". For example: Smith, J. L.; Bowen, J. P.; Collins, F. While entering data in double byte languages like Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK), there are two semicolon letters in the character set, one for English and one for the native language. Biblioscape can only recognize the English semicolon as the separator of authors or keywords. So, before entering the "; ", you have to switch the input language. This can be done with one key. For example, if you use MS PingYing to enter Chinese, once you have finished inputting the first author name, press and release the "Shift" key to go to the English mode. Enter "; ". Press and release the "Shift" key again to go back to Chinese input mode and start entering the second author name. If author names are not separated by an English semicolon, the formatted author names generated by Biblioscape will be in the wrong format. While entering an author name in CJK, you should enter it in the native format. Enter last name first followed by first name. Do not put a comma after the last name as you would do with an English name.

Sometimes, you may want to store author role information with an author. For example, actor, actress, and assistant producer can all be considered author roles. In most cases, you don't need to enter an author role. For example, the "Book Edited" reference type has a field called "Editor". You only need to enter the editor's name. Biblioscape will add the "Ed." text if needed according to the style used. But in rare cases, you may want to add author role. For example, if there is a book written by Bill Clinton and Al Gore, you may want to add author role information like this: "<President: > Clinton, Bill; <Vice President: > Gore, Al". Once formatted, the authors will look like: "President: Bill Clinton and Vice President: Al Gore". If you store the author role after the author name, it will appear after the author name in the formatted form. For example, "Clinton, Bill <- President>; Gore, Al <-Vice President>" will become "Bill Clinton - President and Al Gore - Vice President".

Unlike author role, author comment is some text that you want to add with an author but do not want to show in the formatted form. For example, there are 3 authors in the authors field: one is from the Biochemistry department, one is from the Chemistry department, and one is from Pharmacy school. You may want to add it like this: "Hermans, Jan (Biochemistry); Pederson, Lee (Chemistry); Bowen, Phillip (Pharmacy)". Once formatted, the text " (...)" will not be shown in the formatted form.

(Availability: char: 12) The ways to access the reference's hard copy. There are several default values to pick from: "In File", "Not In File", "On Request", "In Press", "In Progress", etc. Users can also type other text instead of picking one from the default values. If you want to add or change the default values, please double click the file "...\Biblioscape x\Global\bib_availability.txt". After saving the changes and restarting Biblioscape, the new default values will be added.

(Call_number: char: 30) The library catalog number of the reference. It can be Library of Congress (LC), Dewey Decimal numbers, or another classification system used by your local library.

(Categories: memo: 256MB) A category is a keyword or phrase that helps you to keep track of references so you can easily find, sort, filter, or group them. Use categories to keep track of different types of references that are related but stored in different folders. For example, you can keep track of all the references for the "Chem 102" class when you create a category named "Chem 102" and assign references to it. In the Reference Editor Window, a category tree is displayed on the "Categories" pane. You can add or remove a category by clicking on an item in the categories tree. Or, you can add a new category by typing in the categories box. If there is a space inside a category, for example, "molecular modeling", the space will be replaced by "_". The category will be stored as "molecular_modeling".

(Country: char: 30) Name of the country of the principle author. Clicking on the Search button

on the "User Defined" panel of the reference editor will bring up a popup window for you to pick a country that has already been used in your database.

(Created_by: char: 30) Name of the user who created the record. This field is automatically stamped by Biblioscape when a new reference is added. When used on a multi-user environment, this field can tell users who created this reference. This also allows users to build searches based on this field.

(Custom_1: char: 255) Any data that is not suited for another field can be put here.

(Custom_date: date) This can be used to enter a date that is not covered by other date fields in Biblioscape. For example, if you want to record the date a publication is submitted, you can enter it in this field.

(Custom_numer: float) For entering an integer or a real number. If you want to sort references based on a number, you can enter it in this field. If you enter a number in a string field, sorting will not work properly.

(DB_name: char: 20) For entering the database name if the reference is downloaded from an online database.

(DB_provider: char: 20) For entering the database provider's name if the reference is downloaded from an online database.

Date (Date_pub: date) The date that the reference was published. Must have all 3 values: year, month, date, e.g., “8/6/1994”. If you have an incomplete date e.g., “May 1994”, it should be put into the field “Date_freeform”.

(Date_freeform: char: 20) It can take a date in any format, with or without all 3 values. See Year & dates for more. For certain reference types like "Magazine Article", a date is required but it may not have all year, month, and day. For example "May, 1998", or "First Quarter, 2000". In such cases, it should be put into the field "Date_freeform". If Date_freeform is not included in the "User Defined" field list, you can always go to the "All Fields" view in the reference editor to access it.

(Date_created: date) The date when a reference was first added into the database. This field is automatically stamped by Biblioscape when a new reference is added. This value is useful in building an "Advanced Search", sorting references, or grouping references.

(Date_modified: date) The date when a reference was last edited. This field is automatically stamped by Biblioscape when a reference is edited. This value is useful in building "Advanced Search", sorting references, or grouping references.

(Description: char: 150) A brief description of the physical properties of a reference. For example, if it is a "Book", this field can be used to describe the physical condition of the book. You can also use this field to describe other aspects of a reference.

(Ref_doc: memo: 256MB) For storing the full text of a reference. The document can include formatted text, graphics, or OLE objects. The size limit for a document field is 256 MB, so it should be more than enough in most cases. The OLE support makes it possible to store other types of information, like a chemical structure drawing, a CAD drawing, an Excel spread sheet, etc. In the Reference Editor, click on the "Document" tab, then use the built-in editor to enter whatever you want and format it the way you want to display it. Besides the standard options to change font, size, color, paragraph alignment, etc. you can also change highlight color (background color), superscript, subscript, and even the insertion of a table.

The text, graphics, and OLE are saved into data field Ref_doc in Rich Text Format (RTF). RTF does not support graphics and OLE efficiently. If the graphics are in high resolution with more than 256 colors, the RTF code could becomes very large. This will slow down the search index building process. If you need to put lots of high color graphics and OLE objects into the document, we recommend you use Word to save it as a document file on the local disk. Then, enter the full path of the file into the "Attachment" field of the reference, instead of saving high resolution graphics into the Document field.

(DOI: char: 50) Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is for identifying content objects in the digital environment. If you know a publication's DOI, you can find its meta data as well as the place to obtain its full text.

(Edition: char: 20) For storing the edition number of a Book, Computer Program, etc.

(Sec_authors: char: 255) The editors of a publication. Do not put "ed." etc. in the field, because Biblioscape will add those according for the output style used. Names should be entered in the format "Lastname, firstname middlename" (Smith, Keneth D.) and separated by "; ". See Authors field for more.

(Page_end: char: 20) The end page number of a reference when a page range is needed. For example, for Journal Article or Book Section. The End Page should be entered as full. The style used to create the bibliography can change the page numbers to be either full or abbreviated page ranges, or show just the first page. Do not enter commas in the Start Page or End Page for page numbers in the thousands.

(Extent_work: char: 20) For storing the extent of work for a reference. For example, the total volume of a book series, or the total number of works in a Music Score.

(File_as: char: 30) The text that can be used to uniquely identify a reference in a database. The field is automatically stamped by Biblioscape with first author name, publication year, and part of title when a new reference is added. Changes made by users to this field are not saved. The File As field can be used as a temporary citation to uniquely identify a reference.

When formatting a paper, Biblioscape needs a way to uniquely identify a reference. By default, "Reference ID" is used. Using "Reference ID" is fine if all your references are in one database. When you move references from database to database, the "Reference ID" will change for the same reference, so your temporary citation will no longer work in each situation. To overcome this problem, you can use text to uniquely identify a reference. The "File As" field is made to assist you. Instead of typing identifying text into temporary citations, you can just use the content in the the "File As" field instead. To make Biblioscape use the "File As" field instead of "Reference ID" in temporary citations, click the menu command "Tools | Options". Go to "Format Manuscript" tab, check the box Use "File As" instead of "Reference ID" for Temporary Citation.

(Isbn_issn: char: 20) For storing the ISBN number for a book, or the ISSN number for a journal, magazine, etc.

(Sec_title: char: 255) For storing the secondary title of a reference. Depending on the reference type, it could be: Journal for "Journal Article", Series Title for "Book", Book Title for "Book Section", etc. Since most references in a bibliographic database are of the type "Journal Article", we use "Journal / Secondary Title" for its generic name.

The journal name is entered into the Sec_title field. When you save a reference, Biblioscape checks if the journal name has been entered before in the current database. If not, the new journal name is automatically added to the journal name list. If the journal name contains periods, the name is automatically placed in the Journal Name Abbreviated column of the journal name table. If the name does not contain periods, it is placed in the Journal Name Full column. The journal name table can be brought up by going to the menu command "Tools | Styles | Journal Name Editor...". The journal name table is used while formatting a paper. If the output style requires the use of an abbreviated journal name, Biblioscape will look up the journal name table and use the Abbreviated Journal Name if it exists. The same is true if a style requires the use of a full journal name. If the abbreviated or full form of a journal name is not found in the journal name table, the journal name entered in that reference will be used instead.

As you save a reference, Biblioscape also puts the journal name into an index table jn_x which is used to boost searching performance, as well as display a lookup table of journal names and their associated references. This index table of journal names is also used to help maintain data consistency by displaying an existing journal name that best matches the one you are typing.

Keywords (Keywords: memo: 256 MB) Keywords of a reference. Individual keywords should be separated by "; ". For example: “Synthesis; HIV; Nucleoside Analogs; Boronic”. You can restrict a search to just the Keywords field in "Advanced Search". Each keyword in this field is also entered into an index table so users can browse a lookup list of keywords and their associated references. This index table also helps users enter keyword in a consistent way by suggesting existing keywords while you are typing. Keywords and categories are both used to classify records. When importing references from a citation database on the Web, you should import its keywords to the Keywords field in Biblioscape. The Categories field is filled with categories that are designed by Biblioscape users instead of database providers. The categories are all related to your research activities and needs.

(Label: char: 60) Text that can help you identify a reference. Some users like to use their own system to identify references for filing purposes. Besides the Label field, Biblioscape includes the following fields for identification purposes: Reference ID; File As; Call Number.

(Language: char: 30) If you work with references that appear in more than one language, you can use this field to record the original language of publication.

(Location: char: 150) If you keep your reprints in separate cabinets or folders, you can indicate that information here. You might also use this field to indicate which library holds a particular book.

(Notes: memo: 256 MB) For storing your comments, ideas, etc. about a reference. This is a memo field and can hold up to 256 MB of data. When importing references, import filters often map all types of miscellaneous information to this field. Early versions of Biblioscape did not include the Notes module. For later versions of Biblioscape, most users prefer to use the Notes module to store comments and ideas about a reference. The notes module stores each note separately and is better suited for this purpose, so this notes field can be considered a legacy field.

(Ref_misc: memo: 256MB) On occasion, some information that doesn't belong in any of the other fields must be appended to a reference. The Ref_misc field is designed for this purpose, and can hold up to 256 MB of data per reference.

(Modified_by: char: 30) Name of the user who last modified the reference. This field is only useful when the Biblioscape database is shared by multiple users on one network. Biblioscape automatically stamps this field when a record is changed. The value of this field cannot be modified by the end user.

(Quat_title: char: 255) For storing any data that is a title in nature. Depending on the reference type, it could be the original title if the reference was first published in a foreign language.

(Original_pub: char: 255) For entering information about the original publication like publisher, place published, etc. If the original work was published under another title, enter the original title and year to the Reprint Edition field. Because some styles require both the original title, year, and its publisher, and they have to appear in different parts of the formatted references, the original title and its publisher have to be entered into separate fields.

(Place_pub: char: 100) The place where the reference was first published. For example: "Toronto, Canada".

Priority (Priority: char: 10) You can pick one from the combo box which includes: Low, Normal, and High, and levels 0 to 9, or you can enter anything that will fit into the field.

(Publisher: char: 150) The publisher of the reference. Only some reference types require this field, for example: Book, Audiovisual Material, Computer Program, etc.

(Ref_ID: integer) A number that can uniquely identify a reference in a Biblioscape database. This number is handled by Biblioscape internally and can not be changed by the user. Once a reference has been assigned a Ref_ID, it will never change.

Biblioscape assigns a unique record number to each reference as it is added into your database. These record numbers appear in the temporary citations to ensure that the correct reference is used when the paper is formatted. Here is an example of using Reference ID in a temporary citation: [Smith, K. 1998 #34]

In the references list Window, the "Reference ID" is shown in the preview header panel. You may also include it in the references data grid as one of the columns. This can be accomplished by going to the menu command "View | Current View | Field Chooser", then dragging the "Reference ID" field from the Field Chooser Window to the data grid column header. In the reference editor Window, you can show the "Reference ID" in the "User Defined" panel by clicking on the splitter bar.

Because the "Reference ID" is used to uniquely identify a record during the formatting of a paper, you need to know the following facts about it:

•

It is recommend that you do not "Reference ID" as a means of filing or numbering your office reprints, because you have no control over this number, and it is subject to change when records are moved into another database. Instead, enter your own unique number into the Label field, or the "Accession Number" field, and use that number for your reprints.

•	Biblioscape automatically assigns a record number sequentially to each reference as it is added to the database.

•	If the same reference appears in two different databases, their "Reference ID" will be different.

•	The "Reference ID" is never reused or reassigned within a database. Even if you permanently delete a reference, that ID number is never used again in that database.

•	If references are not sorted by any other field, they are displayed in descending order based on Reference ID number.

If you delete a reference from your database, Biblioscape will put that record into the recycle bin. If you restore that reference from the recycle bin back to the database again, it will have the same Reference ID number. But, if you delete that reference from the recycle bin, that record will be permanently deleted from your database. After that, even you typed that record back into the database, another Reference ID will be used.

When inserting a temporary citation, Biblioscape needs to uniquely identify that reference. The Reference ID is used by default. This won't be a problem if you always use one database. If you have one database on your home computer and keep another one on your work computer, the same record will have different Reference IDs on the two databases. Therefore, documents with temporary citations from one computer cannot be correctly formatted using the database on another computer. That is why we recommend using natural citation instead of the Reference ID in your temporary citations if you have more than one database.

(Ref_mark: char: 1) For storing a single character to flag a reference. A reference can be marked in 8 colors for all kinds of purposes.

(Ref_read: char: 1) For storing a single character to identify if a reference has been read by the user. When you import a large number of references in a batch, all of them are designated as Unread. Once an Unread reference has been shown in the reference editor or preview window, the reference's Unread status is changed to Read.

(Ref_type: char: 30) Biblioscape has about 30 pre-defined Reference Types. Each reference type has a set of associated data fields. The reference type determines how a reference is going to be formatted in the bibliography.

When adding a reference, the new record is assigned the same reference type as the last selected reference. If you want to change to a different type of reference, click the Reference Type entry at the top of the field list, and select the reference type that you need. You should select the reference type before entering data into other fields because each reference type has its associated data fields. Only data fields associated with the current reference type are shown in the "User Defined" panel, and the field labels change accordingly. However, you can change the reference type at any time, and the information you have entered is retained and transferred to the corresponding field of the new reference type. Besides determining which data fields are shown and what their labels are, reference type also determines how the reference is going to be formatted in the citations and bibliography.

Biblioscape has about 30 pre-defined reference types which should be enough for most users. A reference type can be easily customized, and you can also create new reference types. Before doing so, you should study existing reference types carefully to see if they can accommodate your references. Here are a few tips about choosing the right reference type.

•	Use Book for books written by one or more authors, and use Book Edited for books edited by one or more editors (whether they are books in a series or not).

•	Use Book Section for references that are part of an edited or non-edited book. An example would include a book chapter or a single article in published conference proceedings.

•	The reference type Electronic Source should be used for a Web page or ftp site. Email discussions should be cited as Personal Communications, just like any other correspondence.

Click the menu command "Tools | Options" and select the "Reference Types" tab. You can then click the "New" button to add a reference type. To change the field label for a reference type, select the cell corresponding to a data field and a reference type. Change the label to anything you like. If you leave it blank, that field will not be shown in the "User Defined" tab when the reference is of the selected type.

Reprint Edition (Reprint: char: 150) If the work was originally published under a different title, put the original title and year under the Reprint Edition field. You can enter the original publisher and place published in the Original Publication field. Because some styles require both the original title, year, and publisher, and they have to appear in different parts of the formatted references, the original title and its publisher have to be entered into separate fields.

(Section: char: 20) Identifies a part of a publication. Needed for certain reference types like Newspaper Article, Statute, Bill, etc.

Series Editor (Tert_authors: char: 255) The series editors of a publication. Do not put "ed." etc. in the field, because Biblioscape will add those according to the output style used. Names should be entered in the format: "Lastname, firstname middlename" (Smith, Keneth D.) and separated by "; ". See the Authors field for more.

(Tert_title: char: 255) Series title of a reference. You should enter the series title in the same way you would like it to be capitalized in your bibliographies. See the Title field for more.

(Title_short: char: 100) The abbreviated version of the regular title. In many humanities styles, a short title is used in the citations and footnotes to identify which reference is being cited. For example, MLA style requires that a short title be added to the in-text citation to identify works by the same author. A regular in-text citation in MLA requires only the author name and cited page, like (Smith 278). But, if there are multiple works by that author, MLA requires that the title, or a shortened form of it be added to the citation. If the regular title is long, like "Exploring All Possibilities in Your Life - The Yates Isaccson Story", you should enter a short form of the title that starts with the first word. For example: (Smith, Exploring 278).

(Page_start: char: 20) The start page number of a reference. If you only have one page number for a reference, put it into the Page_start field. Do not enter commas in the Start Page or End Page for page numbers in the thousands.

(Subject: char: 100) The Subject field is for storing subject information when you import references from other sources. In a library catalog or online bibliographic database, many reference records have a subject field. When designing an import filter, you can map that field to the subject field in Biblioscape. When you organize references in Biblioscape, we don't recommend using the subject field. Instead, you should use the Categories field. The data subject field is treated as a whole when in reference lookup. For example, you may have "Computational Chemistry; NMR" in the subject field. In the reference lookup display of the subject field, "Computational Chemistry; NMR" will be listed as an entry instead of being listed separately. If you want terms separated by "; " in the lookup list, please use the Keywords field or the Categories field.

In the Reference Editor Window, if you are in the Subject field on the "User Defined" panel, clicking on the Search button at the end of the field will bring up a lookup window where all subjects used are listed. You can then pick one. If there is more than one subject in this field, separate them with "; ", but data in this field will not be treated as separate terms in the lookup list as explained above.

(Title: char: 255) Title of a reference. You should enter the title in the same way you would like it to be capitalized in your bibliographies. The following rules apply to all four title fields in Biblioscape. They are: Title, Sec_title, Tert_title, and Quat_title.

•	Enter titles without a period or any other punctuation at the end. This should be left for the Output Style to add if needed. This does not apply to the abbreviated journal name for Sec_title.

•	Title field can take up to 255 characters. This limit can be removed if the field type is changed to "memo" with Restructure utility.

•	Although the Biblioscape styles can change the capitalization of titles, it is best to capitalize the title in the same way you would like it to be capitalized in your bibliographies. Because there are many exceptions for capitalization, this task is best done by a human instead of a computer.

(Quat_authors: char: 255) This field is designed to store a person's name. It could be a translator, performer, etc. depending on the reference type. All names are parsed and indexed in the au_x table. See the Authors field for more.

(Type_work: char: 100): Some reference types require you to specify the Type of Work. For example, you can put "Oil Painting" as the Type of Work for the reference type "Artwork".

(Url: char: 255) If a reference has a corresponding entry somewhere on the Internet, you can enter that URL location in this field. Later, you can use Launch URL by clicking the Web link button; Biblioscape will take you to that location. Be sure to enter a complete URL.

(Web_post_hide: char: 1) Indicates whether to show or hide certain fields when the Biblioscape database is posted on the Web by the BiblioWeb server. The fields to be hidden can be selected by going to the menu command "Tools | Options", then selecting the "Others" tab. It only applies to the reference record display form, not the edit form.

(Work_reviewed: char: 100) For entering works reviewed by a reference. Reference types like Journal Article, Magazine Article, Newspaper Article, and Book Chapter can be a review of books, computer programs, films and so on. You can enter the name and author of a work being reviewed into this field.

(Year_pub: integer) The year a reference was published. If you need to enter a publication date for a reference like a newspaper article, you don't need to enter the Year, it will be automatically added by Biblioscape according to the value in Date_pub. You should always enter 4 digit numbers for the year field. The year field only takes integers. If the reference is not published yet, you should put “in press” or “in preparation” in the other data field "Date Freeform", which can take both numbers and text.

In the style editor window for Year, there is an option to "Use Date Freeform when Year is empty". When this box is checked, Biblioscape will use "Data Freeform" when the Year field is empty. Instead of leaving the Year empty, it will put "In Press", etc. depending on what you put in the "Date Freeform" field for that record.