Citation File Validation - FAQ

Last updated: January 14, 2005

Citation File Validator validates your Citation files against the NCBI PubMed DTD. Please validate all Citation files that you send to NCBI.

• Which option should I use?

The size of the file determines which option is better. The first option works best with older web browsers where the file size is 30 Kbytes or fewer. The second option is available for HTML-4 compliant web browsers, such as Netscape 4 and Internet Explorer 5 and above, where the file size is 1.5 Mbytes or fewer. This option is recommended for final validation prior to loading the file.

• Why does the Validator give me so many errors when I simply missed one element tag?

The Validator uses strict syntax. Errors in one part of a file will effect how the program validates the rest of the file. The best approach is to check the lines around an error and fix the syntax errors. Then submit the file for validation again.

• What does "Error: Operation in progress" mean?

It means the URL within the header is incorrect. The header must always be this:

<!DOCTYPE ArticleSet PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD PubMed 2.0//EN" "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query/static/PubMed.dtd">

• What do the "Content Error" messages mean?

Invalid Year / Invalid Month / Invalid Day The message will specify whether the invalid date appeared in the PubDate tag within <Journal> or the PubDate tag within <History>. <Year> can only contain 4-digit ranging between 1966 and 2010. <Month> can only contain the numbers 1-12, the month (in English) or the first three letters of the English months. NOTE: The only PubStatus attribute that allows for a dual month in <Month> is ppublish. Please use the three letter abbreviation when tagging a dual month value. <Day> can only contain the numbers 1-31.

Month tag is missing or empty; Day tag is present If the Day tag is present then the Month and Year tags must also be present.

ISSN tag is missing or empty <ISSN> must contain text; tag cannot be empty.

ISSN not found in NCBI database: ISSN= Title=  Please contact the Provider Support team <publisher@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov> for details regarding the Indexing status of the title.

Not a current MEDLINE journal: ISSN= Title= Please contact the Provider Support team <publisher@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov> for details regarding the Indexing status of the title.

Both Volume and Issue tags are missing or empty A valid file must contain a text in the Volume tag OR the Issue tag, OR both.

Replaces tag has invalid symbols or is empty <Replaces> must contain text; tag cannot be empty.

Cannot replace Article: Citation does not exist NLM has deleted the citation or you have provided an invalid value. NLM cannot notify publishers before deleting citations for publisher-supplied data.

Cannot replace Article: Article does not have “[PubMed – as supplied by publisher]” status  <Replaces> can only be used for articles with the status “[PubMed – as supplied by publisher]”

Cannot replace Article: Replacement file must use the original ArticleIds

FirstPage tag is missing or empty <FirstPage> must contain text; tag cannot be empty.

FirstPage tag is missing or empty; LastPage is present <FirstPage> must contain text; tag cannot be empty.

FirstPage / LastPage tag has invalid symbols. Invalid symbols are anything other than letters or numbers.

Unknown Language See our list of accepted language codes.

FirstName / LastName / CollectiveName tag is missing or empty Message will specify which Author tag the error occurred in. (Author 1, Author 2, etc.) If either the FirstName or LastName tag is present and contains text both must be present and contain text. If neither the FirstName nor LastName tag is present then the CollectiveName tag must be present and contain text. Please contact the Provider Support team <publisher@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov> for details regarding the proper tagging for Single Personal Author Names.

FirstName / LastName tag contains invalid characters Message will specify which Author tag the error occurred in. (Author 1, Author 2, etc.). The following are invalid characters:
!   "    #    $    %    &    @    (    )    *    +    /    ;    :    `    <    =    >    ?    ^    {    |    }    [    \    ]  

Ahead-of-print Article must have “pii” or “doi” See our page “All About Ahead of Print” for more details.

Invalid Ahead of Print date Ahead of Print files can not have an electronic publication date greater than eighteen (18) months prior to the date of uploading to PubMed.