Concept

Identifier Relations

Two identifiers can name the same document, successive versions of it, or documents that travel together. PubID models these relations explicitly so that machines can answer questions like “is this the current version?”, “do these references belong to the same document family?”, and “does this catalogue entry cover that amendment?”

Documents, editions, and states

An identifier names a document. A document can live through time without changing its identity: ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 9001:2015 are two editions of one document. The year on an ordinary standard says which edition you hold, and a later edition replaces the earlier one, which is then withdrawn.

A supplement — an amendment, corrigendum, or similar — behaves differently. It does not replace the document it modifies; it alters it, and the two remain current together. BS 7273-4:2015/A1:2021 is amendment 1 of BS 7273-4:2015: a document that exists alongside the base, not instead of it.

The composite: a document as of a supplement state

Publishers print consolidated forms — BS 7273-4:2015+A1:2021, EN 196-3:2005+A1:2008 — that read the base document together with its amendment. A composite identifier names a state of the document, not a separate publication: “BS 7273-4:2015, as amended by A1 (2021)”.

The supplement’s year is part of its identity

An amendment is published once under its ordinal. A1 of BS 7273-4:2015 was published in 2021; there is no A1:2022. A different year under the same ordinal can only mean the same document or a mistake — never a later edition of the amendment. Systems therefore treat the supplement year as identity, not as a progressing date: unlike a base standard’s year, it never steps forward while everything else stays fixed.

Composites are editions of the consolidated document

Because amendments are cumulative — +A2:2023 incorporates A1 as well — the consolidated document has successive states, and each state is an edition of it:

BS 7273-4:2015+A1:2021 is the prior edition of BS 7273-4:2015+A2:2023.

Two composites of one base differ by what they incorporate — by content, not merely by date — so they relate as editions of one document, not as “the same identifier with a different year”.

Supersession is not edition

The full chain — BS 7273-4:2015 → BS 7273-4:2015+A1:2021 → BS 7273-4:2015+A2:2023 — is a supersession series: each state is succeeded, over time, by the next as the current version of BS 7273-4. But the links are not edition links:

• The composite does not supersede the bare base. BS 7273-4:2015 remains a current, valid reference; readers combine it with the amendment.
• An edition, by contrast, does supersede: when ISO 9001:2015 arrived, ISO 9001:2008 was withdrawn.

Keeping the two apart matters wherever systems merge catalogues, resolve “latest version” requests, or validate citations: a superseded edition may be replaced in a reference list; a supplemented base may not.

Summary

See Also

• Identifier Relationships — Narrative relationships printed on identifiers
• PubID Algebra — How identifiers compose
• API Reference — The predicates that implement these relations