Concept

The PubID Metaschema

The PubID metaschema is the formal definition of how publication identifiers are structured. It provides a shared vocabulary and set of rules that each publisher’s schema builds upon.

Design Principles

Extensibility — The metaschema defines common elements; publishers extend it with their specifics
Round-trip fidelity — Parse any identifier and re-render it identically
Multi-style rendering — A single set of data elements can be rendered in multiple formats (full, abbreviated, short, machine-readable, URN) without information loss
Machine-readable — Every element has a formal definition suitable for automated processing
Human-readable — The output format remains familiar to standards users

Metaschema Elements

Core Elements (Present in Most Schemas)

Element	Type	Description
`publisher`	String	The issuing organization code (ISO, IEC, IEEE, etc.)
`type`	String	Document type key (is, tr, ts, guide, etc.)
`number`	String	Unique document number
`year`	Integer	Publication year
`part`	String	Part number

Extended Elements (Publisher-Specific)

Element	Type	Used By	Description
`edition`	String	ISO, IEC, JIS	Edition number
`stage`	String	ISO, IEC	Development stage abbreviation
`typed_stage`	String	ISO, IEC	Combined stage+type (e.g., DTR, FDTS)
`language`	String	ISO, IEC, CIE	Language code
`copublisher`	String	ISO	Joint publisher code
`supplement`	Object	Most publishers	Amendment, corrigendum, or addendum
`draft_version`	String	IEEE	Draft version number
`vap_suffix`	String	IEC	Value-added product suffix
`sector`	String	ITU	ITU sector (R, T, D)
`version`	String	ETSI, BSI Flex	Version number
`revision`	String	NIST	Revision number

How Publishers Use the Metaschema

Each publisher defines a schema that specifies:

Which elements they use — Not all publishers use all elements
Allowed values — For example, which document types, stage codes, or language codes
Syntax rules — How elements combine into a string representation
URN format — How the identifier maps to a URN

Example: ISO Schema

ISO/[Copublisher] [TypedStage] [Number]-[Part]:[Year]/[Supplement]([Language])

Uses: publisher, copublisher, type, number, part, year, stage, typed_stage, language, supplement
Stages: NP, WD, CD, DIS, FDIS, PRF, IS
Supplements: Amendment (Amd), Corrigendum (Cor), Addendum (Add)

Example: NIST Schema

[Publisher] [Type] [Number]-[Part] Rev. [Revision] Vol. [Volume]

Uses: publisher (NIST or NBS), type, number, part, revision, volume, edition, stage, update, translation
Types: SP, FIPS, IR, TN, HB, etc.
Historical: NBS prefix for pre-1988 documents
Multi-style rendering: NIST was the first to define four distinct output styles from a single data model:
- Full (Long): National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-53A
- Abbreviated: Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Spec. Publ. 800-53A
- Short: NIST SP 800-53A
- Machine-Readable: NIST.SP.800-53A (used as DOI suffix)

Multi-Style Rendering

The PubID metaschema supports rendering a single identifier into multiple output formats. This means one parse operation produces data elements that can be serialized in different contexts:

Output Format	Used For	Example
Human-readable string	Citations, references	`ISO 9001:2015`
URN	Machine interchange, resolution	`urn:iso:std:iso:9001:ed-5:en`
JSON	API responses, databases	`{"publisher":"ISO","number":"9001","year":2015}`
Full style (NIST)	Title page, bibliography	`National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-53A`
Short style (NIST)	Inline citations	`NIST SP 800-53A`
Machine-readable (NIST)	DOI, machine interchange	`NIST.SP.800-53A`

This interchange is lossless: converting from any style to any other style preserves all semantic information. The data model is the single source of truth; the styles are just different serializations.

Formal Definition

The metaschema is implemented in the PubID Ruby library as:

Shared components in lib/pubid/components/ — reusable element definitions
Per-publisher schemas in lib/pubid/{flavor}/ — publisher-specific rules
Parsers — PEG grammars (Parslet) for each publisher’s syntax
Serializers — Lutaml::Model mappings for JSON/YAML/URN output