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Selecting the correct title
The majority of journals have undergone changes in their titles over the years. Publications often change names numerous times, with one title sometimes having little in common with its former and subsequent versions.
The process of selecting the correct title for a particular volume is the final stage in the standardization process. The assignment of the correct title can only be carried out with certainty after the collation has been standardized, dated, and scanned for obvious errors, at which point we have enough information to make the selection. BPH-2 is the standard we follow.
Example of publication title changes:
| Standard form | Full title | Volumes and Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. | Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis | Vols. 1-51; 1905-1942 |
| Feddes Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. | Feddes Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis | Vols. 52-69; 1943-1964 |
| Feddes Repert. | Feddes Repertorium | Vol. 70+; 1965+ |
A more complex example:
| Standard form | Full title | Volumes and Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Izv. Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada | Izvestiya Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaniceskago Sada. Bulletin du Jardin Imperiale Botanique de Saint-Petersbourg | Vol 1-12; 1901-12 |
| Izv. Imp. Bot. Sada Petra Velikago | Izvestiya Imperatorskago Botaniceskago Sada Petra Velikago | Vols. 13-16; 1913-16 |
| Izv. Bot. Sada Petra Velikago | Izvestiya Botaniceskago Sada Petra Velikago | Vol. 17; 1917 |
| Izv. Glavn. Bot. Sada R.S.F.S.R. | Izvestiya Glavnogo Botanicheskogo Sada RSFSR. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de la Republique Russe | Vols. 18-24; 1918-25 |
| Izv. Glavn. Bot. Sada S.S.S.R. | Izvestiya Glavnogo Botaniceskago Sada SSSR. Bulletin du Jardin (Botanique) Principal de l'URSS. Leningrad | Vols. 25-29; 1926-30 |
| Izv. Bot. Sada Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R | Izvestiya Botanicheskogo Sada, Akademii Nauk SSSR. Leningrad | Vol. 30; 1932 |
| Sovetsk. Bot. | Sovetskaya Botanika. Moscow & Leningrad | Vol. 31+; 1933-47 |
In the original volume of Index Kewensis and its early supplements, there was no consistency in the way in which the titles were recorded.The compilers had no standards to follow as we have today, and each supplement used forms unique to itself. As a result, extracting a complete dataset from a single publication can be challenging and this is exacerbated by scanning and typographical errors.
We have developed a means of grouping together title variants that are related, editing these to an intermediate form until the data can be processed further.
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