RIS (file format)

RIS is a standardized tag format developed by Research Information Systems, Incorporated (the format name refers to the company) to enable citation programs to exchange data.[1] It is supported by a number of reference managers. Many digital libraries, like IEEE Xplore, Scopus, the ACM Portal, Scopemed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Rayyan QCRI, Accordance Bible Software,[2] and online library catalogs can export citations in this format. Citation management applications such as BibDesk, RefWorks, Zotero, Citavi, Papers, Mendeley, and EndNote can export and import citations in this format.

RIS

Filename extension	.ris
Internet media type	application/x-research-info-systems
Type of format	Bibliography

Format

The RIS file format—two letters, two spaces and a hyphen—is a tagged format for expressing bibliographic citations. According to the specifications,[3][4][5] the lines must end with the ASCII carriage return and line feed characters. Note that this is the convention on Microsoft Windows, while in other contemporary operating systems, particularly Unix, the end of line is typically marked by line feed only.

Multiple citation records can be present in a single RIS file. A record ends with an "end record" tag ER - with no additional blank lines between records.

Example record

This is an example of how the article "Claude E. Shannon. A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical Journal, 27:379–423, July 1948" would be expressed in the RIS file format:

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Shannon, Claude E.
PY  - 1948
DA  - July
TI  - A Mathematical Theory of Communication
T2  - Bell System Technical Journal
SP  - 379
EP  - 423
VL  - 27
ER  - 

Example multi-record format

This is an example of how two citation records would be expressed in a single RIS file. Note the first record ends with ER - and the second record begins with TY - JOUR:

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Shannon, Claude E.
PY  - 1948
DA  - July
TI  - A Mathematical Theory of Communication
T2  - Bell System Technical Journal
SP  - 379
EP  - 423
VL  - 27
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
T1  - On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem
A1  - Turing, Alan Mathison
JO  - Proc. of London Mathematical Society
VL  - 47
IS  - 1
SP  - 230
EP  - 265
Y1  - 1937
ER  - 

Tags

There are two major versions of the RIS specification.[4][5] The second version, introduced near the end of 2011 has different lists of tags for each type of record, sometimes with different meanings.[5] Below is an excerpt of the main RIS tags, from both versions. Except for TY - and ER -, order of tags is free and their inclusion is optional.

RIS format fields

Tag	Meaning
TY	Type of reference (must be the first tag)
A1	Primary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A1 tag)
A2	Secondary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A2 tag)
A3	Tertiary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A3 tag)
A4	Subsidiary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A4 tag)
AB	Abstract
AD	Author Address
AN	Accession Number
AU	Author (each author on its own line preceded by the AU tag)
AV	Location in Archives
BT	This field maps to T2 for all reference types except for Whole Book and Unpublished Work references. It can contain alphanumeric characters. There is no practical limit to the length of this field.
C1	Custom 1
C2	Custom 2
C3	Custom 3
C4	Custom 4
C5	Custom 5
C6	Custom 6
C7	Custom 7
C8	Custom 8
CA	Caption
CN	Call Number
CP	This field can contain alphanumeric characters. There is no practical limit to the length of this field.
CT	Title of unpublished reference
CY	Place Published
DA	Date
DB	Name of Database
DO	DOI
DP	Database Provider
ED	Editor
EP	End Page
ET	Edition
ID	Reference ID
IS	Issue number
J1	Periodical name: user abbreviation 1. This is an alphanumeric field of up to 255 characters.
J2	Alternate Title (this field is used for the abbreviated title of a book or journal name, the latter mapped to T2)
JA	Periodical name: standard abbreviation. This is the periodical in which the article was (or is to be, in the case of in-press references) published. This is an alphanumeric field of up to 255 characters.
JF	Journal/Periodical name: full format. This is an alphanumeric field of up to 255 characters.
JO	Journal/Periodical name: full format. This is an alphanumeric field of up to 255 characters.
KW	Keywords (keywords should be entered each on its own line preceded by the tag)
L1	Link to PDF. There is no practical limit to the length of this field. URL addresses can be entered individually, one per tag or multiple addresses can be entered on one line using a semi-colon as a separator.
L2	Link to Full-text. There is no practical limit to the length of this field. URL addresses can be entered individually, one per tag or multiple addresses can be entered on one line using a semi-colon as a separator.
L3	Related Records. There is no practical limit to the length of this field.
L4	Image(s). There is no practical limit to the length of this field.
LA	Language
LB	Label
LK	Website Link
M1	Number
M2	Miscellaneous 2. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
M3	Type of Work
N1	Notes
N2	Abstract. This is a free text field and can contain alphanumeric characters. There is no practical length limit to this field.
NV	Number of Volumes
OP	Original Publication
PB	Publisher
PP	Publishing Place
PY	Publication year (YYYY)
RI	Reviewed Item
RN	Research Notes
RP	Reprint Edition
SE	Section
SN	ISBN/ISSN
SP	Start Page
ST	Short Title
T1	Primary Title
T2	Secondary Title (journal title, if applicable)
T3	Tertiary Title
TA	Translated Author
TI	Title
TT	Translated Title
U1	User definable 1. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
U2	User definable 2. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
U3	User definable 3. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
U4	User definable 4. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
U5	User definable 5. This is an alphanumeric field and there is no practical limit to the length of this field.
UR	URL
VL	Volume number
VO	Published Standard number
Y1	Primary Date
Y2	Access Date
ER	End of Reference (must be empty and the last tag)

Type of reference

The type of reference preceded by the TY - tag may abbreviated:

RIS reference types

Abbreviation	Type
ABST	Abstract
ADVS	Audiovisual material
AGGR	Aggregated Database
ANCIENT	Ancient Text
ART	Art Work
BILL	Bill
BLOG	Blog
BOOK	Whole book
CASE	Case
CHAP	Book chapter
CHART	Chart
CLSWK	Classical Work
COMP	Computer program
CONF	Conference proceeding
CPAPER	Conference paper
CTLG	Catalog
DATA	Data file
DBASE	Online Database
DICT	Dictionary
EBOOK	Electronic Book
ECHAP	Electronic Book Section
EDBOOK	Edited Book
EJOUR	Electronic Article
WEB	Web Page
ENCYC	Encyclopedia
EQUA	Equation
FIGURE	Figure
GEN	Generic
GOVDOC	Government Document
GRANT	Grant
HEAR	Hearing
ICOMM	Internet Communication
INPR	In Press
JFULL	Journal (full)
JOUR	Journal
LEGAL	Legal Rule or Regulation
MANSCPT	Manuscript
MAP	Map
MGZN	Magazine article
MPCT	Motion picture
MULTI	Online Multimedia
MUSIC	Music score
NEWS	Newspaper
PAMP	Pamphlet
PAT	Patent
PCOMM	Personal communication
RPRT	Report
SER	Serial publication
SLIDE	Slide
SOUND	Sound recording
STAND	Standard
STAT	Statute
THES	Thesis/Dissertation
UNBILL	Unenacted Bill
UNPB	Unpublished work
VIDEO	Video recording

See also

• BIBFRAME—bibliographic framework, an emerging standard to replace MARC
• Bibliographic record—general concept
• BibTeX—a text-based data format used by LaTeX
• EndNote—a text-based data scheme used by the EndNote program
• MARC—machine-readable cataloging standards
• refer—an aging text-based data scheme supported on UNIX-like systems

References

1. The origin of the name RIS was obtained via email from Henry Johnson, a Customer Technical Representative at Scientific Thomson Reuters. Research Information Systems was owned by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). RIS, the creators of Reference Manager which had also previously bought ProCite from Personal Bibliographic Software Inc, merged with Niles software, the creators of EndNote. The result of the merger was the creation of ISI ResearchSoft, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, which produces Reference Manager, EndNote and ProCite. Email date 7/3/08.
2. https://www.accordancebible.com/New-Features-112
3. "RIS File Format". ResearcherID.com. Thomson Reuters. 2012. Archived from the original on 2017-07-07.
4. "RIS Format Specifications". Reference Manager. The Thomson Corporation. 2001-02-14. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30.
5. "RIS Format Specifications". Reference Manager. The Thomson Corporation. 2011-10-06. Archived from the original on 2012-05-26.