Evidence Synthesis
Check Which Affiliation Belongs to Each Author
Follow the byline markers before standardizing names
Start with the credited author order and the affiliation blocks in the article front matter. Record each author's local identifier and each affiliation's local label. Use the author-to-affiliation references in the document and compare the result with the rendered byline. A paper with several affiliations rarely implies that every author belongs to every institution.
Keep the original affiliation text, including departments and location, in the affiliation table. Store each author–affiliation link separately. Present addresses, correspondence details, and research-site locations can serve different roles from the primary byline affiliation. Retain the role stated by the article and record uncertain markers for review.
Reconcile a hypothetical byline
Four authors are linked to three affiliations. The first author lists affiliations A and B, the second lists B, the third lists C, and the fourth lists A and C. The correct mapping contains six author–affiliation links. Expanding four authors across all three organizations would generate twelve links, of which six have no support in the byline.
Compare counts by author and by affiliation after import. In this example each affiliation is linked to two authors, a quick cross-check against the six total links. Save the original ordering so a reviewer can reconstruct the byline display. Organization matching against a registry can proceed after the publication's author-level relationships are preserved.
Related worksheet: Database join planning and audit worksheet.
Source checked on 5 November 2026.