On this page:
JSTOR Content Types
Content Type | Content Type Definition |
---|---|
Audio | Media that makes use of sound (exclusively) over a period of playback time. See audio resource types. |
Books | Text-based items that may be bound together, containing many parts or chapters. See book resource types. |
Documents | Text-based singular items that may be brief or shorter in length than a book or serial. See document resource types. |
Images | Flattened representation of a visual work in the form of a photograph, scan, or born-digital image file. See image resource types. |
Panoramas | Applied systematically when media processing identifies the file as an interactive panoramic image that can be manipulated by the user in a special pano viewer. |
Serials | Publications issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. See serial resource types. |
Video | Media that makes use of images (usually "moving"), with or without sound, over a period of playback time. See video resource types. |
JSTOR Resource Types
An item's Resource Type displays along with other item-level metadata on the item page in JSTOR.
Each Resource Type also rolls up to a broad Content Type which enables the narrowing of search results through facets and determines the format for item downloads on JSTOR. See Supported File Types and Sizes.
Default Content Type | Resource Type | Resource Type Definition / Details |
---|---|---|
Audio |
Audio Recordings |
Media that makes use of sound (exclusively) over a period of playback time. Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. |
Audio |
Audiobooks |
A recording of a book or other work being read out loud. |
Audio |
Broadcasts |
Radio or television programs (including clips or sound bites). |
Audio |
Field Recordings |
Audio or video recordings, often for professional or research purposes, which are made outside a professional sound studio or venue. Examples include nature sounds and ethnomusicology recordings. |
Audio |
Music Recordings |
Audio or video recordings of music or musical events, whether captured in a studio or during live performances. This includes both songs being sung and music without lyrical accompaniment. For textual representations of music, use "Musical Works". Or, if specifically for sheet music, "Sheet Music". |
Audio |
Podcasts |
A program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Podcasts are primarily an audio medium, with some programs offering a supplemental video component. |
Books |
Bibliographies |
Lists of works arranged in some logical order giving brief information about each one, such as author, date, publisher, and place of publication. May be works by a particular author or on a particular topic. |
Books |
Biographies |
Written accounts of the lives of individuals. |
Books |
Book Chapters |
|
Books |
Books |
Collections of wood or ivory tablets, or sheets of paper, parchment, or similar material, that are blank, written on, or printed, and are strung or bound together. Can also exist in electronic formats (e-book) that can be read on a computer or handheld device rather than in print. Can be used as a specific resource type, or can be used if a more appropriate resource type is unavailable. Use "Audiobooks" for recordings of books being read or performed aloud. |
Books |
Dissertations |
Extended critical investigation of a subject, usually prepared and presented as the final requirement for a degree or diploma and typically based on independent research and giving evidence of the candidate's mastery of the subject and of scholarly method. |
Books |
Incunabula |
Books, pamphlets, or broadsides printed in Europe before 1500/1501. They are distinct from manuscripts, which are documents written by hand. May be used for cradle books and incunables. |
Books |
Proceedings |
Records of meetings, conferences, learned societies, or other organizations, often published in print or online. May consist of abstracts or full text of papers presented, audio or video recordings, and/or visual aids. |
Books |
Reference Sources |
Sources intended primarily for consultation rather than for consecutive reading. |
Books |
Sketchbooks |
Books or pads containing sketches |
Books |
Scrapbooks |
Blank books or albums designed so that a variety of items may be affixed to the pages, including photographs, clippings, and other memorabilia (Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus). |
Books |
Theses |
|
Books |
Yearbooks |
Books published annually as a compendium, report, or summary of the statistics or facts of a calendar year and intended as reference books, limited to a special subject. Use also for school yearbooks, which provide information and often photographs relating to activities and the students at the school during the previous year. |
Documents |
Affidavits |
Sworn statements in writing; especially made upon oath before an authorized magistrate or officer. |
Documents |
Briefs (Legal Documents) |
Concise statements of the arguments of a party to a case in dispute, submitted to the court or other body hearing the case. |
Documents |
Catalogs |
Enumerations of items, such as a file of bibliographic records, school courses or a list of art objects, usually arranged systematically and with descriptive details. Use for art museum or exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, course catalogs, product catalogs, catalogues raisonnés, accession catalogs, mail order catalogs, etc. |
Documents |
Circulars |
Use for printed pieces such as notices or advertisements, usually in the form of single sheets or leaflets, intended for wide distribution to the general public. |
Documents |
Clippings |
Illustrations, pages, articles, or columns of text removed from books, newspapers, journals, or other printed sources. |
Documents |
Constitutions |
The fundamental organic law of government of a nation, state, society, or other organized body; laying down fundamental rules and principles for the conduct of affairs. |
Documents |
Correspondence |
Any forms of communication sent and received, including letters, emails, postcards, memorandums, notes, telegrams, or cables. |
Documents |
Diaries |
A person's private account of events, experiences, observations, thoughts, feelings, etc., with entries usually arranged by date and recorded daily or at some other interval. |
Documents |
Documents |
Text-based singular items that may be brief or shorter in length than a book or serial. Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. |
Documents |
Essays |
Short literary compositions on single subjects, often presenting the personal view of the author. |
Documents |
Field Notes |
Notes, often in books, kept by researchers or surveying parties while on site. |
Documents |
Finding Aids |
A listing or description of a body of records within a records center or archives, making them more readily accessible and comprehensible to the user. |
Documents |
Government Documents |
Documents made or received by an agency of government and maintained in the conduct of government business. |
Documents |
Hearings |
Meetings or sessions in which testimony, evidence, or arguments are presented in a formal setting, usually before an official. |
Documents |
Historic Copies |
|
Documents |
Histories |
Use to designate chronological records of events, as of the life or development of a people, country, or institution. |
Documents |
Interviews |
Statements, transcripts, or recordings of conversations in which one person obtains information from another such as for research purposes, publication, or broadcast. |
Documents |
Lectures |
A talk or presentation delivered before an audience or class, usually for the purpose of instruction. |
Documents |
Legal Documents |
General term for documents having legal relevance. |
Documents |
Letters (Correspondence) |
Pieces of correspondence that are somewhat more formal than memoranda or notes, usually on paper and delivered. |
Documents |
Manuscripts |
Handwritten documents; may also be used to distinguish certain documents from published or otherwise printed documents, as in the cases of typed personal letters or a typescript from which printed versions are made. |
Documents |
Memoirs |
Narratives or histories autobiographical in nature or stressing the author's personal experience of the events. |
Documents |
Memorandums |
Documents recording information used for internal communication. |
Documents |
Minutes |
Records of what was said and done at meetings or conferences. |
Documents |
Musical Works |
Various forms of printed music, including sheet music, music scores, music books, songbooks, and song lyrics (with or without musical notation). Use narrower term "Sheet Music" specifically for sheet music only. Use "Music Recordings" for audio or video recordings of music. |
Documents |
Notes |
Brief statements of a fact or experience, documented for review, or as an aid to memory, or to inform someone else; also includes short, informal letters. |
Documents |
Oral Histories |
Works that record interviews conducted to preserve the recollections of persons whose experience or memories are representative or are of special historical or social significance. |
Documents |
Pamphlets |
Complete, non-periodical printed works generally of few pages, sometimes with a paper cover. |
Documents |
Playbills |
Programs or posters announcing a theatrical performance. |
Documents |
Poetry |
Literary and oral genre rooted in the compressed and cogent imaginative awareness or associations of experiences, ideas, or emotional responses and arranged under an organized criterion of meaning, conscious and unconscious expression, symbolism, formal or informal pattern, sound, and rhythm. The genre encompasses narrative, dramatic, satiric, didactic, erotic, and personal forms. |
Documents |
Policy Documents |
A course of action or principles adopted or proposed by a government or an organization |
Documents |
Press Releases |
Official or authoritative statements giving information for publication in newspapers or periodicals. |
Documents |
Programs (Programmes) |
Brief outlines or explanations of the order to be pursued, criteria for participation, or the subjects embraced in a given event or endeavor. Includes lists of the features composing a dramatic or other performance, with the names of participants. |
Documents |
Records |
Recorded information, regardless of medium, created, received, and maintained by an agency, institution, organization, or individual in pursuance of its legal obligations or in the transaction of business. Do not use for record albums. |
Documents |
Reports |
A presentation of facts or the record of some proceeding, investigation, or event. |
Documents |
Resolutions |
Formal expressions of the opinion formed by some superior authority on matters referred to its decision and forwarded to inferior authorities for their instruction and government. |
Documents |
Reviews |
Critical appraisals or evaluations of works, performances, or events. |
Documents |
Screenplays |
|
Documents |
Sheet Music |
Music printed on unbound sheets of paper. |
Documents |
Speeches |
A public address or talk, including monologues, orations, sermons, etc. |
Documents |
Testimonies |
Solemn declarations, usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official. Use also for oaths and depositions. |
Documents |
Timelines |
Chronologies in graphic linear form, either vertical or horizontal, listing important events or other phenomena, such as dominant styles, for successive years or periods within a defined historic period, often limited to a particular culture or region. |
Documents |
Transcripts |
Copies transcribed from an original text or document and also for written records of words originally spoken, such as of court proceedings, broadcasts, or oral histories. |
Images |
3D Laser Scans AV |
Results of laser scanning operations consisting of point coordinates (xyz) on an object's surface. The collection of these points is called a point cloud. When displayed on a computer screen point clouds provide a visual impression of the object surface. Individual point clouds of an object can be combined and processed to create a 3D model. |
Images |
3D Models AV |
Refers to three-dimensional scaled visual representations of physical objects or structures in digital form. The level of represented detail varies and is differentiated on a relative scale as high-, medium- or low- resolution. Surfaces of 3D models are represented by polygons, generally in triangle form. |
Images |
3D Renderings AV |
|
Images |
Aerial Photographs |
Photographs of the earth’s surface taken from an aircraft or other airborne platform, typically for the purpose of generating maps using photogrammetric methods. |
Images |
Animations AV |
|
Images |
Artifacts |
Generally, objects or other things made or modified by humans, typically manually portable products of human workmanship, such as tools, utensils, objects for personal adornment, or art, as distinguished from natural remains. In archaeology, an artifact is an object made by a human culture and later recovered by an archaeological endeavor. May be used for "cultural artifacts." May also be used if a more specific resource type term is unavailable. |
Images |
Audiovisual AV |
Encompasses sound recordings, video, interactive resource or 3-D object, and multimedia (any two or more media types cataloged together, e.g. a recording of a speech and the written transcript of that speech). Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. |
Images |
Built Works |
A general term used to refer to freestanding buildings, components of buildings, complexes of buildings, other structures, or a man-made environment, typically large enough for humans to enter, serving a practical purpose, being relatively permanent and stable, and usually considered to have aesthetic value. Use for architecture. |
Images |
Cartoons (Humorous Images) |
Pictorial images using wit to comment on such things as contemporary events, social habits, or political trends, usually executed in a broad or abbreviated manner. |
Images |
Ceramics |
Visual works and other articles made of ceramic, especially art works in the form of sculptures, vessels, and other decorative and utilitarian objects (e.g. pottery) made of bone china, porcelain, or stoneware. Ceramic ware, earthenware, porcelain ware, and brick products are examples of ceramics. |
Images |
Coins |
Pieces of metal stamped by government authority for use as money. Use for coin money and numismatics. |
Images |
Contour Maps |
Maps showing elevation and the configuration of the ground by the use of contour lines and usually lacking other detail. |
Images |
Costume/Fashion |
Objects worn or carried for warmth, protection, embellishment, or for symbolic purposes. It includes main items of dress, undergarments, and outer garments. Also included are types of armor, vestments (and other ceremonial garments), uniforms, and accessories (e.g., "headgear," "footwear", "evening bags," "parasols"). May also include hairstyles and personal adornment belonging to a place/culture, time period, class, or special occasion. May also be used for fashion design (e.g. couture fashion) and costume design [e.g. costumes (plural) - ensembles intended to create an appearance characteristic of a particular period, person, place, or thing, especially for theater/stage or motion pictures/film]. |
Images |
Digital Images |
Digitally-encoded images stored and displayed in as “picture elements”, better known as pixels. Digital images can be generated directly by means of a digital camera or by scanning hard copy images. |
Images |
Drawings |
Visual works produced by drawing, which is the application of lines on a surface, often paper, by using a pencil, pen, chalk, or some other tracing instrument to focus on the delineation of form rather than the application of color. |
Images |
Engravings |
Use specifically for prints obtained from an engraved printing surface. Historically, has sometimes been used loosely to refer to all prints. |
Images |
Etchings |
Prints made from an etched printing plate. |
Images |
Exhibitions/Installations |
Exhibitions are organized displays of works of art, crafts, natural history, science, or other items of cultural interest. They are usually named and temporary. May also be used for exhibits, expos, expositions, world’s fairs, and showings. Installations are artworks that are typically site-specific with a three-dimensional aspect, designed to have a particular relationship with their spatial environment on an architectural, conceptual, or social level. Use also for public art, land art, and art intervention. Installations may also mean elements of exhibitions (such as exhibit design, graphics, exhibit cases, objects on display, etc.). |
Images |
Furniture |
Movable or fixed objects or equipment, which may be either functional or ornamental, particularly objects for sitting, reclining, or storage, such as chairs, beds, tables, cabinets, etc., in a dwelling, business, or public space. |
Images |
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) AV |
Refers to combined software and hardware systems that relate and display collected information concerning phenomena associated with location relative to the Earth. They often have the ability to overlay temporal information or information related to geology, ecology, weather, land use, demographics, transportation, or other data on top of existing geographic base data. |
Images |
Historical Models |
Use for models that are intended to represent how something, as a building, a ship, or a city, looked at a previous time. For drawings or full-scale new objects or structures made with similar intent, use "reconstructions." |
Images |
Illuminated Manuscripts |
Handwritten manuscripts that have been decorated with gold or silver, brilliant colors, designs, or miniature pictures. Although prevalent in Islamic and Asian societies, the longest tradition of illuminating manuscripts was in Christian medieval Europe, from the 6th-16th centuries, when the art was superseded by printed illustrations. Generally, the manuscripts were both 'historiated', or decorated with relevant paintings, and 'illuminated' in its original sense, meaning decorated with calligraphic initial capital letters using gold leaf. Over time, the term 'illuminated' came to refer to any illustration or decoration in a manuscript. Illuminated manuscripts played a major role in the development of art, partly because of the manuscript's portability in carrying artistic developments from one region to another. |
Images |
Illustrations |
Refers to pictures or diagrams that clarify or provide an example or visualization. They usually accompany a text; the term is most often used to refer to pictures in books or published journal. |
Images |
Images |
Flattened representation of a visual work in the form of a photograph, scan, or born-digital image file. Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. |
Images |
Individual Laser Scans |
|
Images |
Line Drawings |
Drawings in which forms are indicated primarily by lines, with few or no areas of continuous tone. |
Images |
Maps |
Refers to graphic or photogrammetric representations of the Earth's surface or a part of it, including physical features and political boundaries, where each point corresponds to a geographical or celestial position according to a definite scale or projection. The term may also refer to similar depictions of other planets, suns, other heavenly bodies, or areas of the heavens. Maps are typically depicted on a flat medium, such as on paper, a wall, or a computer screen. |
Images |
Models (Representations) |
Refers to scaled representations of objects or structures, usually three-dimensional. |
Images |
Mural Paintings |
Painted decorations or scenes that dominate or once dominated a wall (or ceiling) surface. Mural painting techniques may also include fresco and graffiti. |
Images |
Negatives (Photographic) |
|
Images |
Ortho-images or Ortho-photos |
|
Images |
Outline Drawings |
|
Images |
Paintings |
Unique works in which images are formed primarily by the direct application of pigments suspended in oil, water, egg yolk, molten wax, or other liquid, arranged in masses of color, onto a generally two-dimensional surface. |
Images |
Panoramas |
Pictorial representations with very broad horizontal ranges of view. The term is also used specifically for photographs that show a wide view produced by a panoramic camera or by joining photographs together, which may include interactive panoramas. Rolls up to Content Type "Images" by default, but if the system identifies an interactive panorama file, the Content Type is overridden to "Panoramas". |
Images |
Pastels |
Works of art, typically on a paper or vellum support, to which designs are applied using crayons made of ground pigment held together with a binder, typically oil or water and gum. |
Images |
Photogrammetric Images |
Analog or digital photographs captured with calibrated amateur cameras or specialized metric cameras. |
Images |
Photogrammetry AV |
|
Images |
Photographs |
Still images produced from radiation-sensitive materials (sensitive to light, electron beams, or nuclear radiation), generally by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass, or metal. It does not include reproductive prints of documents and technical drawings, for which descriptors found under "<reprographic copies>" are more appropriate. Photographs may be positive or negative, opaque or transparent. |
Images |
Plan Views |
Refers to depictions or photographs showing structures or sites seen from directly above. For scaled orthographic drawings specifically, use "plans (drawings)". |
Images |
Plans (Drawings) |
Refers to drawings, sketches, or diagrams of any object, made by projection upon a flat surface, usually a horizontal plane. The term is particularly used to refer to drawings or diagrams showing the relative positions of the parts of a building, or of any one floor of a building, projected upon a horizontal plane. The term can also be used for a set of drawings for a project. For general reference to depictions or photographs showing structures or sites seen from directly above, use "plan views." For representations of portions of the Earth's surface use "maps". |
Images |
Plans: Elevation & Sections |
|
Images |
Postcards |
Cards on which a message may be written or printed for mailing without an envelope; often having a pictorial image or photograph on one side. |
Images |
Posters |
Notices intended to be posted to advertise, promote, or publicize an activity, cause, product, or service; also, decorative, mass-produced prints intended for hanging. For small printed notices or advertisements use "circulars". |
Images |
Prints |
Pictorial works produced by transferring images by means of a matrix such as a plate, block, or screen, using any of various printing processes. |
Images |
Reconstructions |
Use for drawings that propose how something may have looked at a previous time, and for full-scale new objects or structures based on historical, archaeological, or other similar evidence. For models made to represent how something looked at a previous time, use "historical models." |
Images |
Redrawings |
|
Images |
Renderings |
Use for architectural drawings, usually perspectives or elevations, showing shadows, textures, sometimes colors, often executed with watercolor washes, and showing some setting. Intended as visualizations of the full conception of the project. |
Images |
Rock Art |
Use for paintings or carvings worked on living rock. |
Images |
Rock Engravings |
Images carved or inscribed into living rock with relatively linear incisions. |
Images |
Rock Paintings |
Use for paintings on living rock. |
Images |
Rubbings |
Images made by placing a material such as paper or cloth over a relief, incised, or textured surface and rubbing. |
Images |
Satellite Images |
Digital images produced by imaging the earth’s surface from an earth orbiting platform. Images are generally in digital form and captured by a scanning device. Space born image sensors typically record infrared radiation in addition to visible light. |
Images |
Schematic Drawings |
Diagrammatic drawings done early in the design process of an architectural project, usually drawn to scale and showing the entire project. |
Images |
Sculpture |
Three-dimensional works of art in which images and forms are produced in relief, in intaglio, or in the round. |
Images |
Sketches |
Use for rough or summary art works; less finished than studies. Though sketches are often in the drawing medium, the term "drawings" in general implies more finished works than does "sketches". |
Images |
Slides (Photographs) |
Positive transparencies in mounts suitable for projection, usually 35mm film in a mount of 2 by 2 inches. |
Images |
Specimens |
Individual samples or units that are deliberately selected for examination, display, or study, and are usually chosen as typical of their kind. |
Images |
Stereoscopic Photographs |
Refers to two images of the same object or scene captured from different positions. This emulates the process of human 3D vision which is, at least partly, based on the fact that the brain receives two separate images of a viewed scene. The effect of three-dimensionality can be achieved when viewed through a stereoscope or similar devices. |
Images |
Terrain Models AV |
|
Images |
Theatrical Productions |
Visual representations or recordings of events intended to entertain audiences, usually on stage and not related to sports. Examples may include: dramas/plays, dramatic readings, monologues, dance, opera, musical theater, acrobatic/circus acts, comedy/vaudeville shows, illusion/magic shows, puppet shows, spoken word, storytelling, mock battles/reenactments, street theater, etc. |
Images |
Tracings |
Images made by tracing, which is copying of a transparent or translucent piece of paper, cloth, or other material. |
Images |
Watercolors |
Refers to two-dimensional works of art, usually on a paper support, to which pigment suspended in water is applied with a brush to create an image or design. |
Images |
Jewelry |
Ornaments such as bracelets, necklaces, and rings, of precious or semiprecious materials worn or carried on the person for adornment; also includes similar articles worn or carried for devotional or mourning purposes. |
Images |
Stained Glass |
Visual works made of transparent or semi-opaque colored glass, generally in the form of a window, autonomous panel, or lampshade. Generally the glass is primarily made of "stained glass (material)" as opposed to painted glass, but there may be painted details. Pieces of the window or other item are held together by strips of lead. |
Images |
Stickers |
Adhesive-backed slips of paper or similar thin material, usually bearing messages or designs. |
Images |
Textiles |
General term for carpets, cloth, fabrics, and other works made of textile materials, which are natural or synthetic fibers created by weaving, felting, knotting, twining, or otherwise processing. May also be used for works of art or high craft that employ textile as a medium (a.k.a. textile art). |
Serials |
Articles |
Literary compositions prepared for publication as an independent portion of a journal, magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, or other work. |
Serials |
Journals (Periodicals) |
Periodicals containing scholarly articles or otherwise disseminating information on developments in scholarly fields. |
Serials |
Magazines (Periodicals) |
Periodicals containing articles, essays, poems, or other writings by different authors, usually on a variety of topics and intended for a general reading public or treating a particular area of interest for a popular audience. |
Serials |
Newsletters |
Periodic reports on the activities of a business or organization. |
Serials |
Newspapers |
Papers that are printed and distributed daily, weekly, or at some other regular and usually short intervals and which contain news, editorials and opinions, features, advertising, and other matter considered of general interest. |
Serials |
Periodicals |
Publications issued at regular intervals of more than one day. |
Serials |
Serials |
Publications issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. Use only when a more specific resource type is unavailable. |
Video |
Video Recordings |
Used for works presented in the form of a series of pictures carried on photographic film or video tape, presented to the eye in such rapid succession as to make it impossible to distinguish individual images and thus give the illusion of continuous, natural movement. |