Lexicon · The human story of meaning
Identifier
Fully specified name: Identifier (concept)
A symbol or string that refers to an entity within an identification system.
- Scope note
- Local editorial identifiers are not external terminology codes.
- Synonyms
- None recorded as true synonyms in this context.
- Monograph
- Controlled vocabularies (planned; brief only)
- External mappings
- None recorded. In W0 no mapping to SNOMED CT® or any external authority is asserted for this entry. A future mapping record will carry source system, identifier, version, relation type, evidence, author, confidence where meaningful, and review state.
- Formal status
- Editorial entry only. It is not part of any released ontology and a prose edit here changes no formal definition.
Draft. This entry is an unreviewed draft. Its sources have not been checked by a named person and no domain reviewer has approved it. Treat every claim as provisional.
Notes
An identifier is a string that picks out one entity within a stated system: a SNOMED CT concept identifier, a UniProt accession, a PubChem compound identifier, a patient's medical record number, or a NucLex editorial ID such as NX-C007. The string means nothing outside its system; the same digits may identify different things in two systems, and a change of system is a change of meaning.
For this publication the scope note is a rule, not a nuance. NucLex's NX- identifiers are local editorial IDs. They are permanent within the publication, they survive a change of slug, and they never claim equivalence to any external code. An external authority link on an entry is a reference, not a mapping. When a verified mapping is added later it will carry the source system, source version, relationship type, evidence, author, confidence, and review state, so that a reader can see who asserted the equivalence and on what basis. The entry on Concept map describes the standard structure for such mappings; the entry on Provenance describes why the assertion's history must be kept.