COinS

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in the html code of web pages. This allows client software to retrieve bibliographic metadata, e. g. to use an OpenURL resolver to find mediated links or to download the information into a reference management software. A principal advantage of using COinS, rather than giving a static OpenURL, is that the client can determine which resolver to use. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book in one's own library.

Sites which embed COinS

• Citebase
• Copac
• HubMed
• Wikipedia
• WorldCat

Server-side applications which embed COinS

• refbase
• WordPress
• Peter Binkley's plugin (described further in this post) allows you to refer to external sources within a post
• Zotero's plugin (by Sean Takats) generates self-referential COinS for each post as an alternative to Binkley's UnAPI plugin.

Client tools which can use COinS

• LibX
• Openly Informatics OpenURL Referrer
• Zotero

See also

• Microformat
• unAPI
• WikiProject Microformats/COinS

References

External links

• OpenURL COinS: A Convention to Embed Bibliographic Metadata in HTML
• Using COinS from Max Planck virtual Library
• Introducing COinS: ContextObjects in Spans
• What are COinS? — From Online Computer Library Center
• Citation proposal - for a microformat for the same purpose.
• KEV implementation guidelines