ContactInfo

Overview

ContactInfo is a reusable container that aggregates one or more contact methods — typically Address, Email, Phone, Website, and (prior to v3.0) InstantMessenger — for an Organization, PersonGroup, or Person involved in the production or distribution of research. It classifies the contact details as business or personal through the required nature attribute and may further qualify their intended use via the optional purpose attribute (sources: data-dictionary-2.4 p.31, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.33, user-guide-2.2 p.20). The element exists to give research consumers a standardised way to reach the authors, teams, and firms behind a research product for follow-up, client servicing, event registration, and relationship management.

Usage

ContactInfo is optional in most contexts and may appear multiple times to capture distinct contact scenarios (for example, separate business and personal entries, or different purposes such as registration vs. replay). In RIXML 2.x it is typically nested inside Organization, PersonGroup, Person, and event-related elements such as EventVenue, EventHost, and RegistrationInformation (sources: data-dictionary-2.4 p.31, user-guide-2.2 p.20, implementation-guide-2.5.1 p.26). The required nature attribute (drawn from ContactInfoNatureEnum) must be set to indicate a business or personal context. The optional purpose attribute (drawn from ContactInfoPurposeEnum) further describes the intended use, such as participation, registration, or replay [data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.33]. Each ContactInfo must contain at least one contact method from Address, Email, Phone, Website, or InstantMessenger (sources: user-guide-2.1 p.20, user-guide-2.2 p.20, user-guide-2.3 p.20, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.33). From RIXML 2.2 onwards an optional Description child element provides free-text context beyond the purpose enumeration [user-guide-2.2 p.20]. In the v3.0 draft the structure is streamlined: ContactInfo becomes a required child of a ContactInfoList container (multiples allowed), and the individual contact methods are grouped into dedicated list elements — AddressList, PhoneList, EmailList, and WebsiteList — that permit multiple entries of each type (sources: data-dictionary-v3-draft p.28, meeting-2025-06 p.22).

Rules

• MUSTContactInfo MUST declare the nature attribute (business or personal) drawn from ContactInfoNatureEnum.[RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.20] [RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.20] [RIXML User Guide v2.3 p.20] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.33]
• MUSTContactInfo MUST contain at least one contact-method child: Address, Email, Phone, Website, or (pre-v3) InstantMessenger.[RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.20] [RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.20] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.4 p.31] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.33]
• SHOULDpurpose SHOULD be supplied when the contact information has a specific intended use (such as participation, registration, or replay), using ContactInfoPurposeEnum.[RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.33] [RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.20]
• SHOULDAuthor and analyst ContactInfo SHOULD include both Email and Phone so that research consumers can reach contributors through their preferred channel; Phone entries should carry an appropriate type (e.g. Voice, Fax).[Company Report (Advanced) Sample v2.4]↗ [Economics Report (Basic) Sample v2.4]↗ [Industry Report (Advanced) Sample v2.4]↗ [Morning Call Report (Advanced) Sample v2.4]↗
• INFORMATIVEContactInfo is not required by the Level One compliance profile when it appears under Organization, PersonGroup, or Person; documents that omit it from those contexts remain Level One compliant.[RIXML Level One Addendum v2.2 p.13] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.5 p.6] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.5 p.7] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.5 p.8]

Relationships

• child-ofOrganization — ContactInfo may appear as a child of Organization to provide firm-level contact details.
• child-ofPersonGroup — ContactInfo may appear under PersonGroup to provide contact details for a research team.
• child-ofPerson — ContactInfo may appear under Person to expose contact channels for individual analysts and authors.
• child-ofEventVenue — ContactInfo may be attached to EventVenue to describe how to reach the venue.
• child-ofEventHost — ContactInfo may be attached to EventHost to identify host-side communication channels.
• child-ofRegistrationInformation — ContactInfo may appear within RegistrationInformation to provide registration-related contact channels for events.
• containsAddress — ContactInfo aggregates one or more Address entries; in v3.0 these are wrapped in an AddressList container.
• containsEmail — ContactInfo aggregates one or more Email entries; in v3.0 these are wrapped in an EmailList container.
• containsPhone — ContactInfo aggregates one or more Phone entries; in v3.0 these are wrapped in a PhoneList container and country codes move inside the phone number content.
• containsWebsite — ContactInfo aggregates one or more Website entries; in v3.0 these are wrapped in a WebsiteList container.
• containsInstantMessenger — Through RIXML 2.5, ContactInfo may contain InstantMessenger child entries; this child has been removed in the v3.0 draft.
• uses-enumContactInfoNatureEnum — The required nature attribute draws its values from ContactInfoNatureEnum (business or personal).
• uses-enumContactInfoPurposeEnum — The optional purpose attribute draws its values from ContactInfoPurposeEnum to indicate the intended use of the contact information.