Four Additional Publishers Adopt NISO’s KBART Guidelines

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to announce that four more publishers have recently started supplying metadata that conforms to the NISO recommended practice, KBART: Knowledge Bases And Related Tools (NISO RP-9-2014). A total of 62 publishers have now achieved KBART compliance since the recommended practice was originally published in 2010. 

An estimated 40% of full text usage on publisher sites is driven by library databases (including Google Scholar and Next Generation Discovery Tools). Much of this access flows through OpenURL link resolvers that rely on detailed knowledge base title data provided by publishers and other content providers, making accurate, up-to-date information essential to maximize usage. By adopting the universally-accepted KBART metadata structure, publishers ensure a timely exchange of standardized information and updated product availability details across the whole supply chain.

The newest KBART-endorsed organizations are:

• Scientific.net (endorsed December 4, 2019)

• University of Chicago Press (endorsed April 27, 2020) 

• Mark Allen Group (endorsed August 5, 2020) 

• Canadian Electronic Library (endorsed November 10, 2020) 

A full list of publishers that have implemented the KBART recommended practice can be found in the Registry (https://sites.google.com/site/kbartregistry/). The KBART Standing Committee is now working on its Phase III recommendations, which will be shared for public comment in 2021. 

“We are delighted to have added four more organizations to the list of KBART-endorsed content providers,” said Noah Levin, KBART Standing Committee Co-chair. “With over 60 KBART-compliant content providers, librarians and readers around the world have access to the accurate, up-to-date information they need.”

“It’s encouraging to see global adoption of KBART continuing to increase with these new endorsed content providers from Canada, Switzerland, the UK, and the US,” added Andrée Rathemacher, the Committee’s other Co-chair. “We encourage other content providers to implement our guidelines, which are developed by and for the whole information community, and to submit their files for KBART endorsement.”

Nettie Lagace, Associate Executive Director of NISO echoed these sentiments, saying, “We are grateful to all organizations that have implemented the KBART guidelines and helped improve information flow for libraries, publishers, and users alike. NISO appreciates  Noah, Andrée, and all their colleagues on the KBART Standing Committee for their hard work developing and maintaining this recommended practice.”

About KBART

The NISO KBART (Knowledge Bases And Related Tools) Standing Committee manages and supports Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) Recommended Practice (NISO RP-9-2014). This publication provides all parties in the information supply chain with straightforward guidance about metadata formatting to ensure the exchange of accurate metadata between content providers and knowledge base developers. Phase II of the Recommendations, published in 2014 builds on the original 2010 publication by supporting consortia-specific metadata and metadata transfer for open access publications, e-books, and conference proceedings. For more information, visit www.niso.org/workrooms/kbart.

About NISO

NISO, based in Baltimore, MD, USA, aims to build knowledge, foster discussion, and advance authoritative standards development through collaboration among the cultural, scholarly, scientific, and professional communities. To fulfill this mission, NISO engages libraries, publishers, information aggregators, and other organizations that support learning, research, and scholarship through the creation, organization, management, and curation of knowledge. NISO works with intersecting communities of interest and across the entire lifecycle of information standards, and is a not-for-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). For more information, visit the NISO website (https://niso.org) or contact us at nisohq@niso.org.

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