How to find the key of a person, a publication, or a stream?

In dblp, unique identifiers for persons, publications, and streams exist.

Person keys

In many ways, persons are identified in dblp on basis of the persons name string (optionally followed by a four digit number in case of several authors in dblp with the same name). That name can be found prominently in the grey bar at the top of a person's page.

However, there is also a (more cryptic) unique identifier associated with a dblp person record. You can find this key listed in the "export" drop down menu right next to the name. The key can also be found as the "key" attribute of the "person" element in a persons XML export.

Publication keys

Each publication record in dblp is identified by a unique identifier. You can find this key listed in the "export" drop down menu of the publication entry. The key can also be found as the "key" attribute of the record in the record's XML export.

Stream keys

Each publication stream (that is, journals or conference series) does also have a unique identifier, although in this case the key is assigned a little bit more implicitly. Nevertheless, this key will remain unaltered even if the title or the acronym of the journal or conference series changes.

Although the stream's key is not obviously visible at dblp's website, it can be found at as part of path names in dblp. This includes a number of locations like:

Note that in many cases, satellite workshops of a conference may be associated with the key of the main conference series. However, there are workshops series that are given a key of their own.


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