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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading">
<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibcode</span></span>
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<p>The <b>bibcode</b> (also known as the <b>refcode</b>) is a compact identifier used by several astronomical data systems to uniquely specify literature references.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Adoption">Adoption</h2></div>
<p>The Bibliographic Reference Code (refcode) was originally developed to be used in <a href="SIMBAD" title="SIMBAD">SIMBAD</a> and the <a href="NASA/IPAC_Extragalactic_Database" title="NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database">NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database</a> (NED), but it became a de facto standard and is now used more widely, for example, by the NASA <a href="Astrophysics_Data_System" title="Astrophysics Data System">Astrophysics Data System</a>, which coined and prefers the term "bibcode".<sup id="cite_ref-a_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-a-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-b_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-b-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Format">Format</h2></div>
<p>The code has a fixed length of 19 characters and has the form
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</style><div class="block-indent"><code>YYYYJJJJJVVVVMPPPPA</code></div>
<p>where <code>YYYY</code> is the four-digit year of the reference and <code>JJJJJ</code> is a code indicating where the reference was published. In the case of a journal reference, <code>VVVV</code> is the volume number, <code>M</code> indicates the section of the journal where the reference was published (e.g., <code>L</code> for a letters section), <code>PPPP</code> gives the starting page number, and <code>A</code> is the first letter of the last name of the first author. Periods (<code>.</code>) are used to fill unused fields and to pad fields out to their fixed length if too short; padding is done on the right for the publication code and on the left for the volume number and page number.<sup id="cite_ref-a_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-a-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-b_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-b-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Page numbers greater than 9999 are continued in the <code>M</code> column. The 6-digit article ID numbers (in lieu of page numbers) used by the Physical Review publications since the late 1990s are treated as follows: The first two digits of the article ID, corresponding to the issue number, are converted to a lower-case letter (01 = a, etc.) and inserted into column <code>M</code>. The remaining four digits are used in the page field.<sup id="cite_ref-b_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-b-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2></div>
<p>Some examples of bibcodes are:
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<table class="wikitable">
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<th>Bibcode
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<th>Reference
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<td><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974AJ.....79..819H">1974AJ.....79..819H</a></code>
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</style><cite id="CITEREFHeintz1974" class="citation journal cs1">Heintz, W. D. (1974). "Astrometric study of four visual binaries". <i><a href="The_Astronomical_Journal" title="The Astronomical Journal">The Astronomical Journal</a></i>. <b>79</b>: <span class="nowrap">819–</span>825. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974AJ.....79..819H">1974AJ.....79..819H</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F111614">10.1086/111614</a>.</cite>
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<td><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1924MNRAS..84..308E">1924MNRAS..84..308E</a></code>
</td>
<td><cite id="CITEREFEddington1924" class="citation journal cs1">Eddington, A. S. (1924). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmnras%2F84.5.308">"On the relation between the masses and luminosities of the stars"</a>. <i><a href="Monthly_Notices_of_the_Royal_Astronomical_Society" title="Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a></i>. <b>84</b> (5): <span class="nowrap">308–</span>332. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1924MNRAS..84..308E">1924MNRAS..84..308E</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmnras%2F84.5.308">10.1093/mnras/84.5.308</a></span>.</cite>
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<td><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970ApJ...161L..77K">1970ApJ...161L..77K</a></code>
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<td><cite id="CITEREFKempSwedlundLandstreetAngel1970" class="citation journal cs1">Kemp, J. C.; Swedlund, J. B.; Landstreet, J. D.; Angel, J. R. P. (1970). "Discovery of circularly polarized light from a white dwarf". <i><a href="The_Astrophysical_Journal_Letters" class="mw-redirect" title="The Astrophysical Journal Letters">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a></i>. <b>161</b>: <span class="nowrap">L77 –</span> <span class="nowrap">L79</span>. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970ApJ...161L..77K">1970ApJ...161L..77K</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F180574">10.1086/180574</a>.</cite>
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<td><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004PhRvL..93o0801M">2004PhRvL..93o0801M</a></code>
</td>
<td><cite id="CITEREFMukherjeeKellerbauerBeckBlaum2004" class="citation journal cs1">Mukherjee, M.; Kellerbauer, A.; Beck, D.; et al. (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://cds.cern.ch/record/798313/files/PhysRevLett.93.150801.pdf">"The Mass of <sup>22</sup>Mg"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i><a href="Physical_Review_Letters" title="Physical Review Letters">Physical Review Letters</a></i>. <b>93</b> (15): 150801. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004PhRvL..93o0801M">2004PhRvL..93o0801M</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.93.150801">10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.150801</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15524861">15524861</a>.</cite>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Digital_object_identifier" title="Digital object identifier">Digital object identifier</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-a-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-a_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-a_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFM._SchmitzG._HelouP._DuboisC._LaGue1995" class="citation book cs1">M. Schmitz; G. Helou; P. Dubois; C. LaGue; B.F. Madore; H. G. Corwin Jr. & S. Lesteven (1995). "NED and SIMBAD Conventions for Bibliographic Reference Coding". In Daniel Egret & Miguel A. Albrecht (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/refcode/refcode-paper.html"><i>Information & On-Line Data in Astronomy</i></a>. <a href="Kluwer_Academic_Publishers" class="mw-redirect" title="Kluwer Academic Publishers">Kluwer Academic Publishers</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-7923-3659-3</bdi>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110607153038/http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/refcode/refcode-paper.html">Archived</a> from the original on 7 June 2011<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2011-06-22</span></span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-b-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-b_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-b_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-b_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs_doc/help_pages/data.html">"The ADS Data, help page"</a>. NASA ADS. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071014195855/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs_doc/help_pages/data.html">Archived</a> from the original on 14 October 2007<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">November 5,</span> 2007</span>.</cite></span>
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