Welcome to the JATSPack Archive Network!

This site is a place where you can search for, upload, share, and collaborate on JATSPacks. A JATSPack is a package, in a specified format, which provides some functionality related to the Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS).

This site is currently in a very rudimentary stage. The concepts of the JATSPack packaging format and of this JATSPAN website, and the rationale behind them, are described in this paper which was presented at Balisage 2011. The paper is rather long, though, so you might prefer to start with the quick introduction, below.

Quick Introduction

JATS stands for "Journal Article Tag Suite", and is a set of XML schemas used in publishing scientific literature. They are also well known as the "NLM DTDs", and originated at the National Library of Medicine in support of the PubMed Central archive. Recently these schemas have been adopted by NISO as an official standard for trial use.

JATSPack is a packaging format based on the EXPath Packaging System specification. JATSPack provides a well-defined way of packaging customizations and libraries associated with any of the JATS schema. JATSPacks are similar to plug-ins, which can be easily integrated into XML processing systems to provide customizations and enhancements.

This site currently has a core JATS Bundle available for download which is a repackaging of all of the versions and flavors of the DTDs that you can download from the NLM website. Please refer to the description page for an explanation of what it is, and what it is not.

Goals

JATSPacks can include schema customizations and/or code libraries. They are designed to make it easier to extend or customize the JATS schemas, while at the same time not sacrificing the ability to exchange document instances.

This JATSPAN website provides a venue to allow for users to openly collaborate on and share JATSPacks.

The eventual goal is that this JATSPAN infrastructure will provide:

  • The core JATS Bundle (here now) which provides an easy way to install and get started with using the NLM/NISO JATS DTDs.
  • A repository of JATSPacks, and a website allowing you to search for and download the ones appropriate for your needs, as well as the ability to upload and share ones that you have created.
  • A client application jatspan, which will enable you to maintain a local installation of JATSPacks.
  • A set of RESTful web services for validating instance documents against uploaded JATSPacks, running automated tests, etc.

What is here now.

At present, this website just provides information, links, and the core JATS Bundle.

Subscribe to the mailing list if you are interested in receiving regular updates, or see the Contact / Get Involved page for more ways to stay in touch.

Note!

JATSPack and JATSPAN are not part of the NLM DTDs or the NISO JATS standardization effort. JATSPack is a proposed specification that is completely independent of the tag suite. JATSPAN is a non-commercial web site with no affiliation with the National Library of Medicine or NISO.

What's New

Released JATSPAN / JATS Core Bundle, version 0.7
Sept. 25, 2011

See the download page on SourceForge. See also the JATS Bundle page here for a description of what it is, and what it is not.