Adoption of Bibcode - The Bibliographic Reference Code (refcode) was originally developed for use in SIMBAD and the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). - The code has become a de facto standard and is now used more widely, including by the NASA Astrophysics Data System. - The term 'bibcode' was coined by the NASA Astrophysics Data System and is preferred. - The code is used to uniquely identify bibliographic references in scientific literature. - It consists of a fixed length of 19 characters.

Format of Bibcode - The code follows the format: YYYYJJJJJVVVVMPPPPA. - YYYY represents the four-digit year of the reference. - JJJJJ is a code indicating where the reference was published. - VVVV represents the volume number in the case of a journal reference. - M indicates the section of the journal where the reference was published. - PPPP gives the starting page number and A is the first letter of the last name of the first author.

Examples - Example bibcode: 1974AJ.....79..819H. - Reference: Heintz, W. D. (1974). Astrometric study of four visual binaries. - Journal: The Astronomical Journal. - Page range: 819–825. - DOI: 10.1086/111614.

Related Identifier - Digital object identifier (DOI) is another identifier used in scientific literature.

References - M. Schmitz, G. Helou, P. Dubois, C. LaGue, B.F. Madore, H. G. Corwin Jr. & S. Lesteven (1995). NED and SIMBAD Conventions for Bibliographic Reference Coding. - Book: Information & On-Line Data in Astronomy. - Published by: Kluwer Academic Publishers. - ISBN: 0-7923-3659-3. - The ADS Data, help page. NASA ADS.