# Retrieving information on organizational authors

**URL:** <https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884>\
**Category:** Metadata Retrieval\
**Tags:** rest-api, metadata, snapshots, metadata-retrieval\
**Created:** [15 August 2022 15:21 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884 "2022-08-15T15:21:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chartgerink](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/chartgerink/32/2528_2.png) [@chartgerink](https://community.crossref.org/u/chartgerink)\
**Post date:** [15 August 2022 15:21 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884/1 "2022-08-15T15:21:03Z")

</div>

Hi 👋

I am currently doing a bit of desk research about the use of different kinds of contributors in deposited metadata. Specifically, I am trying to find out how the frequently organizations are added as contributors.

The schema highlights they are possible:

 ![Screenshot 2022-08-15 at 17.17.28](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/crossref/original/1X/c8690b61894b0e4fe50de94d605a0f091a16af40.jpeg)

I have been trying to find how often they occur in the wild, and some of the DOIs I thought of do not use this type of contributor, regrettably. Now my question is, does anybody have an idea on how to find these?

I am fairly familiar with the API and the docs, but I couldn’t find any information on filtering for this specifically. I thought of [downloading the data dump](https://www.crossref.org/blog/2022-public-data-file-of-more-than-134-million-metadata-records-now-available/) and sorting through that info, but I’m trying to prevent using that amount of energy/bandwidth.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ifarley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/ifarley/32/44_2.png) [@ifarley](https://community.crossref.org/u/ifarley)\
**Post date:** [15 August 2022 19:03 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884/2 "2022-08-15T19:03:36Z")

</div>

Hi @chartgerink ,

Thanks for your question. There is not an easy way to search by DOIs that include an organizational contributor. This would likely be the closest query: [https://api.crossref.org/works?query.contributor=organization](https://api.crossref.org/works?query.contributor=organization), if you were looking for a specific organization name (e.g., WHO = [https://api.crossref.org/works?query.contributor=World+Health+Organization](https://api.crossref.org/works?query.contributor=World+Health+Organization)). But, that’s not what you asked.

Unfortunately, I think downloading the [most-recent public data file](https://www.crossref.org/blog/2022-public-data-file-of-more-than-134-million-metadata-records-now-available/) and searching it for organizational contributors is your best bet.

This is what an organizational contributor will look like in the XML input:

`<organization sequence="additional" contributor_role="author">World Health Organization</organization>`

Let me know what you think,  
Isaac

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chartgerink](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/chartgerink/32/2528_2.png) [@chartgerink](https://community.crossref.org/u/chartgerink)\
**Post date:** [16 August 2022 13:09 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884/3 "2022-08-16T13:09:24Z")

</div>

Thanks @ifarley!

Q: Do you know whether the underlying XML for your WHO query are organization tags instead of regulator contributor? I can’t discern based on the JSON:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/crossref/original/1X/8fab62fc7dabc9f2456237a46cb6f62e3ba0528a.png)

My expectation would be that it isn’t deposited as an organization because those cannot contain the `affiliation` tag.

I also checked out the torrent of the data dump and downloaded 1 of the split files (saving bandwidth 😃 ). I only get the JSON so can’t search on the XML tags, and I have not seen an example of the organization tag so am unsure how to find one!

I am interested in verifying whether anybody uses this tag at all and if so, identifying examples. Until yet, I have not found any examples based on the JSON, so the above question seems relevant.

EDIT: Maybe it is recognizable by the fact it has only `name` instead of `given` and `family?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ifarley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.crossref.org/ifarley/32/44_2.png) [@ifarley](https://community.crossref.org/u/ifarley)\
**Post date:** [2 September 2022 18:09 UTC](https://community.crossref.org/t/retrieving-information-on-organizational-authors/2884/5 "2022-09-02T18:09:05Z")

</div>

Hi @chartgerink ,

Apologies for the very slow response!

The JSON output in your message:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/crossref/original/1X/8fab62fc7dabc9f2456237a46cb6f62e3ba0528a.png)

is the result of the organization being registered as an organizational contributor, like this:

DOI 10.26719/2016.22.7.428 - [http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.26719%2F2016.22.7.428](http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.26719%2F2016.22.7.428)

```auto
<contributors>
<organization sequence="first" contributor_role="author">World Health Organization</organization>
</contributors>

```

OR, like this:

DOI 10.1007/BF01624625 - [http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.1007%2Fbf01624625](http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.1007%2Fbf01624625)

```auto
<contributors>
<organization contributor_role="author" sequence="first">World Health Organization</organization>
</contributors>

```

But, if the organization is registered as a person, the XML input will look like this:

DOI 10.15557/PiMR.2020.0025 - [http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.15557%2Fpimr.2020.0025](http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=support@crossref.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.15557%2Fpimr.2020.0025)

```auto
<contributors>
<person_name sequence="first" contributor_role="author">
<surname>World Health Organization</surname>
</person_name>
</contributors>

```

while the JSON output will look like this:

 ![Screen Shot 2022-09-02 at 1.05.14 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/crossref/original/1X/2af4d7a79a8c7dda05e8f160f12677515f138397.png)

I hope that’s helpful.

-Isaac