NBN ISO 690:2021

This document describes a set of principles, guidelines, and requirements for the preparation of
bibliographic references and citations in works that are not themselves primarily bibliographical. It is
applicable to bibliographic references and citations for all kinds of information resources, including but
not limited to monographs, serials, contributions within monographs and serials, patents, cartographic
materials, artworks, performances and diverse electronic resources, such as research datasets,
databases, programs and applications, Web archives and social media, music, recorded sound, prints,
photographs, graphic and audio-visual materials, archival sources and moving images.
This document provides a system for citing information resources that renders deterministic output,
such that a citation generated by this system can be uniquely mapped back to the originally defined
set of source elements. This system is intended to be applicable across multiple languages. Citations
generated by this system are machine-parseable. The citation system described in this document can
be used as a configurable framework for building citation styles.
This document does not specify a data model for machine-readable citations, although such specification
may be provided in a separate document or added to a later edition of ISO 690.
Guidelines for legal citations, such as references to cases, statutes or treatises, are not addressed in
this document, since such guidelines are usually country-specific3)
. Recommendations with regards to
what kind of information resources may or may not be cited, or describing the risks involved with, for
example, citing social media, are not within the scope of this document4)
.