Help:Authority control
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Authority control is a way of associating a unique identifier to articles on Wikipedia. This is useful to disambiguate different items with similar or identical headings, as well as establish a single standard title for an item that is commonly known by two or more titles. When used, authority control data links can be found near the bottom of Wikipedia pages, linking to bibliographical records on worldwide library catalogs. Authority control is often used in biographical articles because it is quite common for more than one person to share the same name. It is commonly used in other subject material as well.
Authority control enables researchers to search more easily for pertinent information on the subject of an article, without needing to disambiguate the subject manually. For example, authority control is used on music articles so that the information in the article can be easily cross-referenced with popular databases.
More generally, authority control is a method of creating and maintaining index terms for bibliographical material in a library catalog, similar to the Dewey Decimal System. The links produced by the authority control template on Wikipedia go to authority control data in worldwide library catalogs. As an example, the Wikipedia authority control information for Alexander Graham Bell looks like this:
Authority control – Alexander Graham Bell | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| National libraries | |
| Art research institutes | |
| Biographical dictionaries | |
| Scientific databases | |
| Other | |
The abbreviations in the box represent the following: International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI); Virtual International Authority File (VIAF); Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN); and Integrated Authority File (GND), Gemeinsame Normdatei in German. WorldCat is a global cooperative union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories.
Supported files
The following authority files are supported on the English Wikipedia:
| Code | Identifier | Wikidata property | Section | Appears as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAG | Auckland Art Gallery | P3372: Auckland Art Gallery artist ID | Art galleries and museums | |
| ACM-DL | ACM Digital Library | P864: ACM Digital Library author ID | Scientific databases | |
| ADB | Australian Dictionary of Biography | P1907: Australian Dictionary of Biography ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| admiralty | Admiralty number | P3562: Admiralty number | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| AGSA | Art Gallery of South Australia | P6804: Art Gallery of South Australia creator ID | Art galleries and museums | |
| ARLHS | ARLHS lighthouse ID | P2980: ARLHS lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| autores.uy | Autores.uy | P2558: autores.uy ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| Remarks: autores.uy is an author's database, that focus on Uruguayan authors. It was created and maintained by the Uruguayan chapter of Creative Commons. It also provides access to digitized works of the authors in public domain. | ||||
| AWR | Australian Women's Register | P4186: Australian Women's Register ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| BIBSYS | Norwegian Authority File: Persons and Corporate Bodies | P1015: NORAF ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: BIBSYS is a supplier of library and information systems for all Norwegian university Libraries, the National Library of Norway, college libraries, and a number of research libraries and institutions. | ||||
| Bildindex | Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur | P2092: Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur ID | Art research institutes | |
| BNC | Collective Catalog of Bibliographic Authorities of Chile | P1890: CCAB ID | National libraries | |
| BNE | BNE authority file | P950: Biblioteca Nacional de España ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: National Library of Spain (BNE: Biblioteca Nacional de España) is a major public library, the largest in Spain. | ||||
| BNF | BnF authorities | P268: Bibliothèque nationale de France ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Authority data of people listed in the general catalogue of the National Library of France | ||||
| BNMM | Catálogo de autoridades BNMM | P3788: BNMM authority ID | National libraries | |
| Botanist | International Plant Names Index | P428: botanist author abbreviation | Scientific databases | |
| Remarks: Author citation (botany): standard form (official abbreviation) of a personal name for use in an author citation (only for names of algae, fungi and plants). Links to page at International Plant Names Index (IPNI). | ||||
| BPN | Biografisch Portaal | P651: Biografisch Portaal van Nederland ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| Remarks: Dutch project with material for 40,000 digitized biographies, including former colonies of the Netherlands. | ||||
| CANTICN | Name and Title Authority File of Catalonia | P9984: CANTIC ID | National libraries | |
| CCG | Canadian Coastguard Lighthouse ID | P3920: Canadian Coastguard Lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| CINII | NACSIS-CAT | P271: CiNii Books author ID | Scientific databases | |
| Remarks: CiNii is a bibliographic database service for material in Japanese academic libraries. It is maintained by the National Institute of Informatics. | ||||
| CWGC | Commonwealth War Graves Commission database | P1908: CWGC person ID | Other | |
| DAAO | Dictionary of Australian Artists | P1707: DAAO ID | Art research institutes | |
| Danish List of Lights and Fog signals | Dansk Fyrliste | P4038: Danish List of Lights and Fog signals ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| DBI | Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani | P1986: Biographical Dictionary of Italian People ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| DBLP | DBLP | P2456: DBLP author ID | Scientific databases | |
| DIB | Dictionary of Irish Biography | P6829: Dictionary of Irish Biography ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| DSI | The Stuttgart Database of Scientific Illustrators 1450–1950 | P2349: Stuttgart Database of Scientific Illustrators ID | Art research institutes | |
| DTBIO | Deutsche Biographie | P7902: Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID | Biographical dictionaries | |
| EMU | Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine | P4613: Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine ID | National libraries | |
| FAST | Faceted Application of Subject Terminology | P2163: FAST ID | Other | |
| Finnish List of Lights | Finnish List of Lights | P4143: Finnish List of Lights ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| FNZA | Find New Zealand Artists | P6792: Find NZ Artists ID | Art research institutes | |
| GND | GND ID | P227: GND ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Authority data on people, corporations and subjects from the German National Library (DNB) | ||||
| Google Scholar | Google Scholar | P1960: Google Scholar author ID | Scientific databases | |
| Grammy | Grammy Awards artist ID | P7303: Grammy Awards artist ID | Other | |
| HDS | Historical Dictionary of Switzerland | P902: HDS ID | Other | |
| Remarks: Historical Dictionary of Switzerland is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland. | ||||
| IAAF | World Athletics Database | P1146: World Athletics athlete ID | Other | |
| Remarks: The IAAF athlete database lists information about sport of athletics competitors. | ||||
| ICCU | OPAC SBN | P396: SBN author ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Central Institute for the Union Catalogue (ICCU: Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico) is an Italian government agency created to build a single catalog of all the libraries in the nation. It manages National Library Service (Servizio bibliotecario nazionale). | ||||
| ICIA | Information Center for Israeli Art | P1736: Information Center for Israeli Art artist ID | Art research institutes | |
| IEU | Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine | P9070: Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine ID | Other | |
| ISIL | International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations | P791: ISIL | Other | |
| ISNI | International Standard Name Identifier | P213: ISNI | General | |
| Remarks: ISNI is a method for uniquely identifying the public identities of contributors to media content such as books, TV programmes, and newspaper articles. Please take care not to confuse ISNI and ORCID identifiers. | ||||
| J9U | National Library of Israel Names and Subjects Authority File | P8189: National Library of Israel J9U ID | National libraries | |
| Joconde | Joconde | P347: Joconde work ID | Art research institutes | |
| KANTO | KANTO | P8980: KANTO ID | National libraries | |
| KULTURNAV | KulturNav | P1248: KulturNav-ID | Art research institutes | |
| Remarks: KulturNav is a Norwegian cloud-based software service, allowing users to create, manage and distribute name authorities and terminology, focusing on the needs of museums and other cultural heritage institutions. The software is developed by KulturIT ANS and the development project is funded by the Arts Council Norway. | ||||
| LCCN | Library of Congress Authorities | P244: Library of Congress authority ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: See Wikipedia:Authority control#LCCN for formatting instructions | ||||
| LIR | Lexicon istoric retic | P886: Lexicon istoric retic ID | Other | |
| Remarks: Lexicon Istoric Retic (LIR) is a two volume version with a selection of articles published in Romansh. | ||||
| LNB | Electronic Union Catalogue of Latvian Libraries of National Significance | P1368: National Library of Latvia ID | National libraries | |
| Marina Militare | Fari e Segnalamenti | P3863: Italian Navy Lighthouses and Beacons ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| MarineTraffic | MarineTraffic Lighthouse ID | P3601: MarineTraffic Lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| MATHSN | Mathematical Reviews | P4955: MR Author ID | Scientific databases | |
| MBA | MusicBrainz artist ID | P434: MusicBrainz artist ID | Other | |
| Remarks: MusicBrainz is an open music encyclopedia that collects music metadata and makes it available to the public. | ||||
| MBAREA | MusicBrainz area ID | P982: MusicBrainz area ID | Other | |
| MBI | MusicBrainz instrument ID | P1330: MusicBrainz instrument ID | Other | |
| MBL | MusicBrainz label ID | P966: MusicBrainz label ID | Other | |
| MBP | MusicBrainz place ID | P1004: MusicBrainz place ID | Other | |
| MBRG | MusicBrainz release group ID | P436: MusicBrainz release group ID | Other | |
| MBS | MusicBrainz series ID | P1407: MusicBrainz series ID | Other | |
| MBW | MusicBrainz work ID | P435: MusicBrainz work ID | Other | |
| MGP | Mathematics Genealogy Project | P549: Mathematics Genealogy Project ID | Scientific databases | |
| Remarks: Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians. | ||||
| NARA | National Archives Identifier | P1225: U.S. National Archives Identifier | Other | |
| Remarks: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records. | ||||
| NCL | National Central Library | P1048: NCL ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: National Central Library is the national library of Taiwan, Republic of China. | ||||
| NDL | Web NDL Authorities | P349: NDL Authority ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Authority data listed in the catalog of the national library of Japan. Search also available via VIAF. | ||||
| NGA | NGA number | P3563: NGA lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| NGV | National Gallery of Victoria | P2041: National Gallery of Victoria artist ID | Art galleries and museums | |
| NKC | Czech National Authority Database | P691: NKCR AUT ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: National Library of the Czech Republic (Národní knihovna České republiky) is the central library of the Czech Republic. | ||||
| NLA | Libraries Australia Authorities | P409: Libraries Australia ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: NLA Trove's People and Organisation view allows the discovery of biographical and other contextual information about people and organisations. Search also available via VIAF. | ||||
| NLG | data.nlg.gr | P3348: National Library of Greece ID | National libraries | |
| NLK | Korean Authority File | P5034: National Library of Korea ID | National libraries | |
| NLR | National Library of Romania | P1003: National Library of Romania ID | National libraries | |
| Norwegian List of Lights | Norwegian List of Lights | P4055: Norwegian List of Lights ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| NSK | NSK | P1375: NSK ID | National libraries | |
| NTA | data.bibliotheken.nl | P1006: Nationale Thesaurus voor Auteurs ID | National libraries | |
| Online List of Lights | Online List of Lights | P3223: Online List of Lights ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| ORCID | ORCID iD | P496: ORCID iD | General | |
| Remarks: Authority data on researchers, academics, etc. The ID range is a subset of the ISNI range. For free text links (for example when mentioning a person on page which is not about them), it is also possible to use {{ORCID}}. Authors—including Wikipedia editors—may obtain an ORCID by signing up at orcid.org/register. Please take care not to confuse ORCID and ISNI identifiers. | ||||
| PIC | Photographers’ Identities Catalog | P2750: Photographers’ Identities Catalog ID | Art research institutes | |
| Remarks: PIC is a photographer's database. It is maintained by the New York Public Library. | ||||
| PLWABN | MAK | P7293: PLWABN ID | National libraries | |
| Portuguese lighthouse | Portuguese lighthouse identifier | P4423: Portuguese lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| NLP | National Library of Poland | P1695: NLP ID (old) | National libraries | |
| Publons | Publons | P3829: Publons author ID | Scientific databases | |
| RID | ResearcherID | P1053: ResearcherID | Scientific databases | |
| Remarks: An identifying system for scientific authors. The system was introduced in January 2008 by Thomson Reuters. The combined use of the digital object identifier with the ResearcherID allows for a unique association of authors and scientific articles. | ||||
| RISM | Répertoire International des Sources Musicales | P5504: RISM ID | Other | |
| RERO | Library Network of Western Switzerland | P3065: RERO ID (obsolete) | Other | |
| RKDartists | RKDartists | P650: RKDartists ID | Art research institutes | |
| Remarks: RKDartists is an online database using a controlled vocabulary currently containing around 200,000+ names and other information about artists. Names in RKDartists may include given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in multiple languages, and names that have changed over time (e.g., married names). | ||||
| RKDID | RKDimages | P350: RKDimages ID | Art research institutes | |
| RSL | Russian State Library | P947: RSL ID (person) | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Russian State Library (Российская государственная библиотека) is the national library of Russia. | ||||
| Scopus | Scopus | P1153: Scopus author ID | Scientific databases | |
| Remarks: SciVerse Scopus is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It covers nearly 19,500 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, of which 16,500 are peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical, and social sciences (including arts and humanities). | ||||
| SELIBR | LIBRIS | P906: SELIBR ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Authority data from the National Library of Sweden | ||||
| SIKART | SIKART | P781: SIKART ID | Art research institutes | |
| Remarks: SIKART is a biographical dictionary and a database on visual art in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is published online by the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIAR). | ||||
| SNAC-ID | SNAC | P3430: SNAC ARK ID | Other | |
| SUDOC | IdRef | P269: IdRef ID | Other | |
| Remarks: Authority data of people listed in the general catalogue of the University Documentation System of France. Also available from English-speaking catalog (search author, click one book, click author name, take PPN= value of the URL) | ||||
| TA98 | Terminologia Anatomica | P1323: Terminologia Anatomica 98 ID | Scientific databases | |
| TDVİA | TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi | P7314: TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi ID | Other | |
| TePapa | Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Collections Online | P3544: Te Papa agent ID | Art galleries and museums | |
| TLS | Theaterlexikon der Schweiz | P1362: Theaterlexikon der Schweiz ID | Other | |
| Remarks: Theaterlexikon der Schweiz (TLS) is an encyclopedia about theatre in Switzerland. It was developed by the Institute of Theatre Studies of the University of Berne. | ||||
| Trove | Trove | P1315: NLA Trove people ID | Other | |
| UKPARL | Parliament of the United Kingdom | P6213: UK Parliament identifier | Other | |
| Remarks: UK parliament member data | ||||
| ULAN | Union List of Artist Names | P245: Union List of Artist Names ID | Art research institutes | |
| Remarks: ULAN is an online database using a controlled vocabulary currently containing around 293,000 names and other information about artists. Names in ULAN may include given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in multiple languages, and names that have changed over time (e.g., married names). | ||||
| USCG | USCG Lighthouse ID | P3723: USCG lighthouse ID | Lighthouse identifiers | |
| USCongress | US Congress Bio identifier | P1157: US Congress Bio ID | Other | |
| Remarks: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates from territories and the District of Columbia and Resident Commissioners from the Philippines and Puerto Rico. | ||||
| VcBA | opac.vatlib.it | P8034: Vatican Library VcBA ID | National libraries | |
| Remarks: Vatican Library document data | ||||
| VIAF | VIAF ID | P214: VIAF ID | General | |
| Remarks: International authority data from the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) | ||||
| Vitaskrá | Vitaskrá | P3993: Vitaskrá ID | Lighthouse identifiers |
|
| WORLDCATID | WorldCat Identities | P7859: WorldCat Identities ID | General | |
| VIAF | VIAF ID | P214: VIAF ID | General | |
| ZBMATH | zbMATH Open | P1556: zbMATH author ID | Scientific databases | |