Code Lists
- About ONIX for Books codelists
- Codelists for Release 2.1 and Release 3.0 NEW Issue 52
- Codelists in other languages
- Codelist files for loading into local systems: CSV, TXT, DTD, XSD, JSON and XML
About ONIX for Books codelists
Codelists – sometimes called controlled vocabularies – are a vital part of ONIX. They form part of the shared semantics of an ONIX message. The codelists contain a list of language-independent (often numerical) code values that are used in ONIX messages, plus for each code there is a short label and sometimes a longer note to define the meaning of the code. In principle, labels and notes may be in any language: although the meaning of almost all codes is originally defined in English, translation of labels and/or notes into another language does not alter the meaning of the code itself. Code BB in list 150 means ‘Hardback book’, but equally it means ‘精装’ (jīngzhuāng shū) and ‚Gebundene ausgabe‘. Thus the meaning of an ONIX message using a particular code value is understandable and unambiguous, whatever the languages used by sender and recipient of the data.
From June 2003, alongside the publication of Release 2.1 of ONIX for Books, the ONIX Codelists are being maintained separately from any of the individual ONIX message formats. A single set of Codelists underpins all ONIX for Books and ONIX for Serials message formats. Some lists may be used in several, or all, of the formats (e.g. language and country codes). Some may be used in only one format. They are all maintained as part of a single set of codelists in which each list has a unique number. (The list number carries no significance: it is simply a ‘dumb’ reference number.)
To maintain backwards compatibility in respect of code values as well as message formats, code values, once published, are never deleted or substantively redefined. They may, however, be marked as ‘deprecated’, and replaced by new values; and their definitions may sometimes be revised to clarify the intended meaning or usage.
Issues of the ONIX for Books Codelists are independent of the publication of new releases of the Product Information message formats. Codelist issues are numbered sequentially 41, 42, 43 etc. New issues of the ONIX Books codelists historically appeared at intervals of between six months and one year, but since 2012 this increased to a regular quarterly cadence. As a consequence, each update tends to introduce fewer new codes. Very occasionally, it is also possible that urgently-needed additions to a code list may be published without a full new issue.
Certain codelists that are not used in currently-supported message specifications may be removed from new Issues of the codelists. Of course that message specification may still be used, with an older Issue of the codelists.
Code values are not included as an integral part of the format specifications. Instead, each specification of a coded data element includes a hyperlink to the relevant code list, and a set of HTML files carrying the latest issue of the code lists is part of the specification package. In the linked HTML files, lists and individual codes which are new are highlighted in red, and codes where either description or notes have been revised or clarified in the latest issue (this includes occasional codes whose status has been changed from active to ‘deprecated’) are highlighted in blue.
Codelists Issue 36 for Release 2.1
Codelist Issue 36 is the latest version of the codelists that is usable with ONIX 2.1. Issue 36 can be downloaded from the Archived Previous Releases page, or viewed on the ONIX online codelist browser.
From Issue 37, codelists for use only with Release 2.1 are no longer included in new Issues, following the sunset of support for that version of the ONIX for Books standard at the end of 2014, the expiry of a one year period of ‘twilight’ support and a further one year ‘moonlight’ period where the codelists were ‘frozen’ but included in new codelist Issues.
Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 NEW
Codelists Issue 52 is for use with Release 3.0 of ONIX for Books.
Documents listing changes made between one issue and the next list all new codes plus all existing codes where the description has been clarified. They also clearly mark a few codes that have been deprecated (where their use is no longer recommended). The codelist files supplied in CSV, XML and other formats for loading into local systems, and the set of code lists in readable PDF and HTML formats (see below) include all codes for the complete set of lists for all currently-supported releases: refer to the ONIX 3.0 Specification documents to ascertain which lists can be used with which data elements and revisions. The most up-to-date issue of the codelists may be required for use with the latest revisions of ONIX 3.0.
You can download three documents which detail all applicable changes made in Issue 52 and provide an eye-readable list of all codes, old and new, which are used in releases up to and including ONIX 3.0:
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (PDF)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (HTML)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF)
- The latest version of the ONIX codelists is also available via the multilingual interactive ONIX online codelist browser
- Quick reference sheet for the codelist browser
You can also download documents that detail changes made in previous updates. These often provide an explanation of why new codes were issued:
- ONIX Codelists Issue 51 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, Oct 2020)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 50 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, July 2020)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 49 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, March 2020)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 48 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, January 2020)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 47 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, October 2019)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 46 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, July 2019)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 45 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, April 2019)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 44 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, January 2019)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 43 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, October 2018)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 42 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, July 2018)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 41 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, April 2018)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 40 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, January 2018)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 39 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, October 2017)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 38 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, July 2017)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 37 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, April 2017)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 36 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, January 2017)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 35 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2016)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 34 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, July 2016)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 33 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, April 2016)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 32 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, January 2016)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 31 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2015)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 30 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, July 2015)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 29 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, April 2015)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 28 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, February 2015)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 27 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2014)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 26 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, July 2014)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 25 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, April 2014)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 24 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, January 2014)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 23 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2013)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 22 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, July 2013)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 21 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, April 2013)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 20 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, January 2013)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 19 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2012)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 18 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, August 2012)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 17 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, April 2012)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 16 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, January 2012)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 15 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2011)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 14 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, June 2011)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 13 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, March 2011)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 12 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, October 2010)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 11 Changes for Release 2.1 and 3.0 (PDF, March 2010)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 10 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, July 2009)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 10 Changes for Release 2.1 (PDF, July 2009)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 9 Changes for Release 3.0 (PDF, April 2009)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 9 Changes for Release 2.1 (PDF, April 2009)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 8 Changes (PDF, April 2008)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 7 Changes (PDF, March 2007)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 6 Changes (PDF, July 2006)
The code lists are also available in Italian, French, Norwegian, Spanish and (in part) German via the ONIX codelist browser at https://ns.editeur.org/onix, and in are also available in spreadsheet format as below:
- Liste di codici ONIX edizione 51 per ONIX 3.0, traduzione in italiano (Excel). La traduzione in italiano è realizzata da Informazioni Editoriali, in collaborazione con Associazione Italiana Editori. È ancora disponibile l’ultima versione delle liste di codici ONIX compatibile con ONIX 2.1: edizione 36
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 in Norwegian for ONIX 3.0, translated into Norwegian (Excel). The Norwegian translation was completed by Bokbasen. Earlier versions (back to v41) remain available
- Listas de códigos ONIX (disponible en Excel, XML, y de texto). Traducción española por DILVE
- ONIX Liste de codes (PDF). Traduction français par Cercle de la Librairie
- Codelists Issue 19 in Arabic (Excel) Provided by El Kotob.
Code list files for loading into local systems: CSV, TXT, XSD, JSON and XML
Complete copies of the current codelist files can be downloaded either in comma-delimited (CSV), tab-delimited (TXT), DTD, XSD, JSON or XML format.
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (DTD, XSD and RNG files, zipped)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (CSV, Windows-1252 character set)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (tab-delimited, Windows-1252 character set)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (tab-delimited, Unicode character set and UTF-8)
The DTD, XSD and RNG files for use with the ONIX 2.1 DTD and XSD schema files are available from the Archived Previous Releases page. For ONIX 3.0, the packages here are preferred, since any corrections to the main schema files themselves will also be included.
The files that use Windows-1252 character encoding are compatible with most North American and Western European systems using older versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and with all web browsers. They can opened directly in Microsoft Excel. The tab-delimited file that uses the Unicode character set and UTF-8 encoding may be more useful with newer versions of Windows and with non-Windows operating systems.
Within the CSV and tab-delimited files, the code lists are presented in numerical order. Each line in the file represents a code list entry. Each line has five fields, in the sequence as given below:
- Code list number
- Code value
- Description – a short text statement of the meaning of the code
- Notes – a longer definition where required
- Issue number – the code list in which the code was added, or in which the status of the code was most recently changed. The issue number is "0" for all codes issued prior to the present release, and "15" for all codes new (or significantly revised) in the fifteenth release.
Alternative versions using other character sets used by specific computer platforms or operating systems may be available on request – please e-mail EDItEUR.
The JSON and XML files contain the same information.
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (XML, Unicode UTF-8)
- ONIX Codelists Issue 52 for Release 3.0 (JSON, Unicode UTF-8)
For the XML file, an XSD schema is available here. The the top-level tag (root element) is <ONIXCodeTable>. The document contains a sequence of composite elements <CodeList>, each of which contains the data elements <CodeListNumber>, <CodeListDescription> and <IssueNumber>, and a sequence of composite elements <Code>. Each composite element <Code> contains the data elements <CodeNumber> (optional), <CodeValue>, <CodeDescription>, <CodeNotes> and <IssueNumber>.
Here is an XML sample:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ONIXCodeTable>
<IssueNumber>40</IssueNumber>
<CodeList>
<CodeListNumber>1</CodeListNumber>
<CodeListDescription>Notification or update type code</CodeListDescription>
<IssueNumber>0</IssueNumber>
<Code>
<CodeValue>01</CodeValue>
<CodeDescription>Early notification</CodeDescription>
<CodeNotes>Use for a complete record issued earlier than approximately six months before publication.</CodeNotes>
<IssueNumber>0</IssueNumber>
<ModifiedNumber/>
</Code>
…
and the JSON equivalent:
{
"CodeList": [
{
"CodeListNumber": "1",
"CodeListDescription": "Notification or update type code",
"IssueNumber": "0",
"Code": [
{
"CodeValue": "01",
"CodeDescription": "Early notification",
"CodeNotes": "Use for a complete record issued earlier than approximately six months before publication.",
"IssueNumber": "0",
"ModifiedNumber": "39"
},
…
The content of a list in the XML or JSON format differs in some respects from that of the CSV and TXT formats. In the XML and JSON formats, each list opens with the list number, a description of the list, and an issue number for the list as a whole, which specifies the issue when the list was added or last changed (in addition to the issue number against each individual code value).
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