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ONIX-PL

ONIX for Publications Licenses (ONIX-PL) is part of a family of XML formats for the communication of licensing terms under the generic name ONIX for Licensing Terms. ONIX-PL is specialized to handle the licenses under which libraries and other institutions use digital resources, particularly but by no means exclusively electronic journals. It builds on the work of the Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resource Management Initiative (ERMI) and the joint EDItEUR/NISO work on ONIX for Serials, and has benefited from funding contributions from the UK Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

ONIX-PL format
ONIX-PL is an XML format for the communication of license terms for digital publications in a structured and substantially encoded form, designed to serve the interests of all parties in the licensing chain. More information and downloads are provided below.

ONIX-PL format specification v1.0 (PDF)
Version 1.0 of the ONIX-PL format specification (November 2008) can be viewed and downloaded here. After extensive piloting, this is the first "live" version of the standard. Any near future revisions will be numbered 1.1, 1.2, etc, and will be backwards-compatible with Version 1.0. There have been a few changes from the specification published on the website in July 2008, but these affect only the Expression Detail and License Detail sections. There has been no change in the main content of the expression.

ONIX-PL schema v1.0
Version 1.0 of the ONIX-PL schema, expressed in W3C XML Schema format, is available for download as a ZIP file, including Issue 3 of the ONIX-PL Dictionary. It may also be possible to supply schema definitions in RELAX-NG (RNG) and RELAX-NG Compact (RNC) formats for developers who prefer them. Please email if you are interested in one of these options.

ONIX-PL Dictionary Issue 3
The ONIX-PL format is supported by an extensive dictionary of coded values. The ONIX-PL Dictionary carries the full set of controlled values that are available to be used in ONIX-PL data elements, with their definitions. These values are included in the ONIX-PL Schema. A read only Excel spreadsheet version of the ONIX-PL dictionary can be downloaded below.

The Schema is organized so that controlled values are held in a separate file, ONIX_PublicationsLicense_CodeLists.xsd. This means that the Dictionary can be updated by replacing this file, without affecting the structural definition of the Schema.

The first full release of the Dictionary was designated Issue 1. Thereafter successive issues will be numbered 2, 3, 4 etc, independently of Schema version numbering. It is expected that Dictionary updates will be much more frequent than revisions to the Schema.

However, from Issue 1, Dictionary values will not be deleted, nor will their meaning be substantively changed. Definitions may be revised for the sake of clarification, or may occasionally be extended. New values will be added. Existing values may be marked as deprecated if new values are to be preferred, but they will remain in the Dictionary indefinitely.

The most recent release of the Dictionary is Issue 3 (published 31 January 2011). Issue 3 is released as part of Build 1.2.3 of the OPLE software, and is included in the ONIX-PL Schema package downloadable above. We are not therefore issuing separate Dictionary files. Users of the Schema who want to update their code lists should reload the complete Schema package. OPLE users are strongly advised to upgrade to Build 1.2.3.

For full details of Issue 3 and an explanation of the changes, please download both of the documents below:

Download ONIX-PL Dictionary (read only Excel spreadsheet)

Download ONIX-PL Dictionary: changes in Issue 3 (PDF)

Guidelines for ONIX-PL applications
Additional guidelines on using ONIX-PL to express license content are in preparation. More information will be posted here as soon as possible.

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