ProQuest affiliate Bowker will now include the ISO-certified International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) in its ONIX 2.1 data feeds to retailers such as Barnes & Noble, as well as the major search engines, ensuring that authors are accurately identified in search and discovery. ISNIs are unique 16-digit codes applied to public identities. This single identifier is leveraged across many applications, syncing alternate or disparate spellings of the same name, and eliminating confusion when names are the same or alike.
ONIX 2.1 is used by the book trade to automate the exchange of massive amounts of metadata about books in any format. With more than 2.3 million authors now using ISNIs, their inclusion in ONIX will significantly boost the system's precision.
ISNI was created just over two years ago and has topped 8 million assignments, with rapid uptake by authors and other contributors. They are in use by organizations such as Wikipedia, Digital Science, ORCID, Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) and many others who value the standard’s ability to pinpoint the correct identity. For instance, ProQuest is adding ISNI functionality in its Pivot, Flow, and Community of Scholars solutions, enabling scholars to include their ISNIs in their profiles.
The ISNI International Agency - a worldwide group of organizations that serves researchers, rights management organisations, authors, musicians, and other public contributors - created the standard in 2012.
Organisations and individuals can apply for an ISNI for any public identity - real or fictional - through a registration agency, such as Bowker.
