Source

Overview

Source is the container within Product that identifies the organisation(s) — and, by extension, the people and groups — responsible for originating and publishing a research item. It establishes the authoritative attribution of the research: who produced it, who is accountable for its content, and whom consumers should contact or credit. Organisations appearing inside Source are specifically classified as *publishers*, distinguishing their role from organisations referenced elsewhere in the document (sources: user-guide-2.2 p.16, user-guide-2.3.1 p.16).

Usage

Source is a required child of Product and must contain at least one Organization element (sources: user-guide-2.1 p.16, user-guide-2.2 p.16, user-guide-2.3 p.15, data-dictionary-2.4 p.24, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.24). The full schema permits multiple Organization children to accommodate joint ventures, co-branded research, or subsidiary relationships. When more than one organisation is present, exactly one must be flagged as the primary publisher via primaryIndicator (sources: user-guide-2.1 p.17, user-guide-2.3 p.16, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.25). Under Level One compliance, Source must contain exactly one Organization — multiple publishers are not supported at that compliance level (sources: level-one-2.2 p.11, level-one-2.3.1 p.25, level-one-2.5 p.6). Beyond the publishing firm itself, Source is typically populated with PersonGroup, Person and ContactInfo structures (carried inside Organization) to identify authors, research teams and how to reach them (sources: getting-started-guide p.9, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.24). Because publisher details rarely change between reports from the same firm, much of this content can be safely templated or hard-coded by the producing system [data-dictionary-2.4 p.13].

Rules

• MUSTSource MUST appear as a child of Product and MUST contain at least one Organization element.[RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.16] [RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.16] [RIXML User Guide v2.3 p.15] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.4 p.24] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.24]
• MUSTWhen Source contains more than one Organization, exactly one of them MUST set primaryIndicator to indicate the primary publisher.[RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.17] [RIXML User Guide v2.3 p.16] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.25] [RIXML Implementation Guide v2.5.1 p.34]
• MUSTFor Level One compliance, Source MUST contain exactly one Organization element; multiple publishers are not supported at this compliance level.[RIXML Level One Addendum v2.2 p.11] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.2 p.31] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.3.1 p.25] [RIXML Level One Addendum v2.5 p.6]
• INFORMATIVEOrganisations carried inside Source are, by definition, classified as publishers of the research content, which distinguishes their role from organisations referenced in other contexts.[RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.16] [RIXML User Guide v2.3.1 p.16]
• INFORMATIVEWorking drafts for RIXML 3.0 propose removing the package layer (Source, Context, Content, Legal) due to limited differentiated use, flattening these children directly under Research or Product.[RIXML All-Member Meeting Winter 2024 p.22]↗

Relationships

• child-ofProduct — Source is a required child of Product, grouping publisher attribution alongside Context, Content and Legal.
• containsOrganization — Source contains one or more Organization elements identifying the publishing firms; Level One restricts this to exactly one.
• constrained-byOrganization.primaryIndicator — When Source holds multiple Organization children, primaryIndicator designates exactly one as the primary publisher.
• transitively-containsPersonGroup — Author teams expressed via PersonGroup (and individual Person entries) are typically nested inside the Organization children of Source to attribute the research to specific people.
• transitively-containsContactInfo — Contact channels for the publisher and its authors are carried via ContactInfo inside the Organization (and Person) children of Source.
• proposed-removalResearch — A 2024 working-group proposal for RIXML 3.0 suggests eliminating the package layer and moving the children of Source directly under Research / Product; not adopted in the 2.x line.