NED and SIMBAD Conventions for Bibliographic Reference Coding
The primary purpose of the 'reference code' is to provide a unique and traceable representation of a bibliographic reference within the structure of each database. The code is used frequently in the interfaces as a succinct abbreviation of a full bibliographic reference. Since its inception, it has become a standard code not only for NED and SIMBAD, but also for other bibliographic services.
NED SIMBAD bibliographic reference coding astronom↗