Authors and other contributors

Table 3 contains examples of markup for authors and other contributors. In this table, the <author> element can be replaced by <editor> or <othercredit>. It may be advisable to enclose multiple <author>, <editor>, or <othercredit> elements in <authorgroup>. See Open Question 2.

I think that contributor(s) (<authorgroup> or some combination of <author>, <editor>, or <othercredit>) should be required. If there is no person(s) or organization to credit as the originator of the resource, I suggest using unknown or anonymous rather than omitting this information. That makes this information explicit so that a stylesheet that implements a style can decide the best way to render the output in this situation (e.g., some styles omit the author when it's unknown or anonymous, and others use Anonymous or some other keyword for this situation).

Table 3 – Markup for contributors

TypeMarkupNotes
human

<author>
  <personname>
    <firstname>FIRST</firstname>
    <surname>LAST</surname>
  </personname>
</author>

<firstname> can also be <givenname>. Can also include <honorific>, <lineage>, or <othername> (see those entries in this table for more).
organization

<author>
  <orgname>ORG NAME</orgname>
</author>

 
honorific

<personname>
         …
  <honorific>Mr.</honorific>
</personname>

Prefixes such as Mr., Mrs., or Dr. Not required. Probably ignored by most styles.
lineage

<personname>
         …
  <honorific>Jr.</honorific>
</personname>

Suffixes such as Jr., Sr., or III. Not required. Used by some styles in full bibliography entries and notes.
othername

<personname>
         …
  <othername>J</othername>
</personname>

A part of a name that isn’t covered by the other elements here. That could include middle names, initials, or nicknames. The Definitive Guide suggests using role to disambiguate this element. I’m not sure if it’s best to use <othername> for middle names or initials or to leave them as part of the first name (see Open Question 5).