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This article is a shortened version of a Master’s dissertation for the Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies. It deals with issues of appraisal. Such issues involve fundamental concepts on what records are, why they are kept, and their life cycle. The answers to these questions were sought and found in the history of archives, and in the specialist literature. The theory and the methodology adopted were then applied to a case study of a recently established organisation in Lisbon, which has, at the core of its business, information in electronic format.

The greatest challenges with which digital systems present us are the creation and maintenance of reliable records and the preservation of their authenticity over time. It is vital for every organisation that its records be able to stand for the facts they are about i.e. that their content is trustworthy. To meet these challenges the international community of records professionals must develop appropriate strategies, procedures and standards. In this article the author explores the concepts and principles derived from archival diplomatics that should guide the management of electronic records and therefore these developments, as well as drawing conclusions about the nature of the research work required

This paper aims to explore if there is an analogous discipline in China to diplomatics.

A comparison method is used for the exploration. Five Chinese disciplines are chosen for the comparison, which are Wenxian xue, Bianwei xue, Dangan jianbian xue, Wenshu xue and Gu wenshu xue. The diplomatics, as discussed in this paper, is modern diplomatics, as exemplified in the work of Dr Luciana Duranti.

It was found that while there is no such Chinese discipline identical to diplomatics, its knowledge is distributed among several Chinese disciplines. This indicates the common concern and efforts in the West and East and the potential for the further development of diplomatics as a global discipline.

The disciplines this paper has examined are what this author is aware of that share certain similarities with diplomatics and the discussion is based on this author’s understanding; thus, it is possible that there are disciplines that this author did not know or the understanding is insufficient to reveal all the connections between diplomatics and these disciplines. Further research from other perspectives might be needed.

To the author’s best knowledge, this is the first paper in English comparing Chinese diplomatic disciplines with diplomatics. It has also shed some light on the development of several Chinese disciplines.

This paper aims to explore a new model of “record” that maps traditional attributes of a record onto a technical decomposition of digital records. It compares the core characteristics necessary to call a digital object a “record” in terms of diplomatics or “evidence” in terms of digital forensics. It then isolates three layers of abstraction: the conceptual, the logical and the physical. By identifying the essential elements of a record at each layer of abstraction, a diplomatics of digital records can be proposed.

Digital diplomatics, a research outcome of the International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) project, gives archivists a methodology for analyzing the identity and integrity of digital records in electronic systems and thereby assessing their authenticity (Duranti and Preston, 2008; Duranti, 2005) and tracing their provenance.

Digital records consist of user-generated data (content), system-generated metadata identifying source and location, application-generated metadata managing the look and performance of the record (e.g., native file format), application-generated metadata describing the data (e.g., file system metadata OS), and user-generated metadata describing the data. Digital diplomatics, based on a foundation of traditional diplomatic principles, can help identify digital records through their metadata and determine what metadata needs to be captured, managed and preserved.

The value and originality of this paper is in the application of diplomatic principles to a deconstructed, technical view of digital records through functional metadata for assessing the identity and authenticity of digital records.

This paper aims to present a conceptual methodology, named herein as object-oriented diplomatics, based on a presentation given by the author at the Digital Diplomatics 2014 conference. This methodology centers on building digital records capable of supporting their authenticity over time and when removed from their original systems by extending archival diplomatics theory by leveraging object-oriented programming (OOP) principles.

This paper presents new method for supporting the presumption of authenticity of digital records through extending archival diplomatics concepts into OOP principles when creating digital records within a record-keeping system.

This paper is based on a preliminary research being conducted during the design of a government digital archives. This concept was used as a core design element for their digital archives and has thus far shown great promise in articulating and encapsulating those essential data elements that support the presumption of authenticity across a wide diversity of record types.

This paper presents a new approach to support the presumption of authenticity of digital records by utilizing concepts from archival diplomatics leveraged with OOP principles. It is the hope of the author that this paper will initiate a deeper collaboration between archives and records management professionals and software developers in the design and implementation of digital repositories.

This article outlines the development of a records continuum model initially developed as a teaching tool to communicate evidence‐based approaches to archives and records management. The continuum is being used in Australia as a metaphor to assist in getting records management ‘right’ in recordkeeping environments built around electronic communications, and the model supports this endeavour. It extends the concept of the continuum beyond metaphor, representing the case for viewing it in its fuller spacetime meanings as a worldview. In this form, the continuum is potentially a technologically driven paradigm shift within all information management and systems practice. There is a new game developing and the concept of the continuum can help us re‐organise our knowledge for that game. This article will discuss the diversity of records management theory and practice. It will look at the meanings of the continuum and my own model of it, including the differences between a worldview and a detailed view. Three other continuum models are presented. A continuum ‘patrol and control’ strategy for analysis is outlined briefly, and represents a point at which my own approach to the continuum is taking off into more detailed practical considerations in records management education and training.

This paper aims to discuss how the originality, authenticity, reliability and genuineness of legal records found at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) are maintained. Provenance issues and their implications in diplomatics are also discussed. It notes that the status quo at the NAZ favours the diplomatic archiving of paper records, while electronic records are neglected.

The paper uses a qualitative research approach. The data will mainly be collected using document analysis augmented by observations from the NAZ. Literature in regard to the Court Legal system of Zimbabwe will be reviewed and this even includes newspaper articles. Academic research papers on the archiving of electronic records in the less developed nations and developed nations will be reviewed also.

The qualitative research approach revealed that the electronic national heritage of Zimbabwe is being lost mainly due to the archaic legislation which is silent on the management of electronic records. The results show again the violation of the sanctity of provenance principles in some selected cases. It was also found that the government is now producing both paper and electronic records, but the National Archives is only archiving paper records, the result of this being the incompleteness of records, thereby negatively affecting their diplomatics.

Whereas a lot has been published about the management of electronic records in the developing world, this paper does not try to duplicate that but tries to bring a new dimension into this by showing how the diplomatics of these records is affected.

The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the history of Records Management Journal on its 20th anniversary; it aims to review and analyse its evolution and its contribution in the context of the development of the profession and the discipline of records management. The paper seeks to provide the context and justification for the selection of eight articles previously published in the journal to be reprinted in this issue.

The paper utilises the contents of Records Management Journal (1989 to date) to present a thematic analysis of topics covered and their development over time, and statistical data (from 2002 to date) provided by the current publisher to assess quantitatively the use and impact of the journal worldwide. The paper then compares this with a series of key turning points in the records management profession.

There is evidence that the initial aspiration for the journal to make an important and long‐lasting impact on the field of records management in the UK has been exceeded because its readers and contributors are global. The volume of downloads has continued to increase year‐on‐year and the journal appears to be the only peer‐reviewed journal in the world in the records management discipline. The journal has responded to and kept abreast of the records management agenda.

The analysis is based on the work of the current and immediate past Editor and did not seek the views of its Editorial Board members, readers or contributors to the journal.

Looking to the future, the journal must seek to widen its impact on other key stakeholders in managing information and records – managers, information systems designers, information creators and users – as well as records professionals. It must also continue to develop the scope of its content, whilst maintaining its focus on managing records, and must keep pace with technology developments. It should try to influence the professional agenda, be controversial, stimulate debate and encourage change. And it should remain a quality resource.

The paper provides a unique critical analysis of the journal, its history and contribution to the development of records management, on its 20th anniversary of publication.

The purpose of this study is to discuss moving forward on a global basis with digital diplomatics.

This study fused a historic review of multiple fields to form a proposed future.

Today, the metadata associated with digital record-keeping is largely based on the methods from the pre-digital age. It fails to take into account the underlying digital mechanisms and their unique properties. At the same time, digital systems already produce large quantities of redundant data that could be and has been used in consistency analysis. A rational improvement would be to use the nature of digital systems in conjunction with intentional redundancy to create metadata and other forms of redundant information that could be validated in diplomatic examination but would be hard to forge consistently by an internal act of alteration.

This study uses a unique approach of fusing digital forensic science with digital diplomatics in the form of using inherent redundancy in digital records and metadata for consistency analysis as a means to fuse the fields.