# Document profiles

Four profiles cover the realistic range. The differences between them are narrow but real: whether a reference list exists at all, footnote marker style, and how much methodological caveat travels with each number. Pick one at the start and hold it — mixing profiles within a document produces inconsistent marker systems, which is worse than picking the "wrong" profile.

A publisher with a fixed house style may legitimately collapse these to one. If the host document declares a style, defer to it and keep only the provenance elements (identifier, extraction date, flags) from this skill.

## Profile 1 — Short release / media

**Reference list:** none.

**Source placement:** inline `Source:` line under any table or chart; source named in prose for figures quoted in running text. Where the figure is published externally, a `Licence:` line follows the source line.

**Markers:** minimal. Quality flags only, no elaborate footnote apparatus.

**Caveat load:** high-salience only. State seasonal adjustment status, provisional status, and any key revision. Suppress methodological detail that would not change a reader's interpretation of the headline.

**Failure mode to watch:** compression tempts you to drop the extraction date and the SA label. Neither is optional even here — a media release quoting an unlabelled series is the most-reproduced and least-checkable artefact in the chain.

## Profile 2 — Flagship / annual report with statistical annex

**Reference list:** yes, plus per-series source lines in the statistical annex.

**Source placement:** `Source:` under each table and figure, then `Licence:` where the report is published externally, then `Note:`, then lettered footnotes, grouped at the end of the table.

**Markers:** **lettered** (`a`, `b`, `c`…) inside tables and figures, read across rows then down; **numbered** in body text. Where symbol-marked and number-marked notes coexist on a page, symbol notes sit above.

**Caveat load:** full. The annex carries per-series source, units, base period, price basis, and flags for every series. The body carries the interpretation-relevant subset.

**Reference-list interaction:** a source given in full in a table's source note may be omitted from the reference list. A numbered body-text data citation should resolve to a reference-list or endnote entry.

## Profile 3 — Technical report / working paper / methodological document

**Reference list:** yes, full bibliography.

**Source placement:** source line under tables plus numbered footnotes or endnotes; methodology described in the text, not compressed into notes.

**Markers:** numbered. Symbols reserved for statistical significance, where they should be defined at first use.

**Caveat load:** maximal. Full methodology, reliability measures with their thresholds (RSE bands, CV grades, confidence levels), definitional scope, and treatment of breaks and revisions.

### Sub-mode: standards and methodological instruments

Citing an ICLS resolution, the SNA, an SDMX guideline or similar: cite by **instrument name and adopting body**, with adoption date and session where applicable, rather than treating it as an ordinary publication. These are normative instruments; the version and adopting authority are the load-bearing elements.

## Profile 4 — Data portal / dashboard / slide deck

**Reference list:** none.

**Source placement:** one compact structured block, three fields in this order, each label singular and rendered exactly once:

```markdown
Source: Agency (Reference period), *Official resource title* [AGENCY:ID(VERSION)]. Selection: [Official member labels](<data query URL>) (CSV), accessed DD Month YYYY.
Licence: [Confirmed licence name](<terms URL>).
Note: ordered interpretation clauses.
```

- **`Source:`** — the official resource title, the versioned identifier, and the formal selection carrying the link to the data query. The identifier does the work here, since space is short.
- **`Licence:`** — the confirmed per-dataset licence name and its terms URL.
- **`Note:`** — the ordered interpretation metadata (adjustment, frequency, unit, multiplier, price basis, flags in prose form). Where there genuinely is no note content, a concise `Note: none.` is correct; an empty or absent field is not.

**Markers:** **flags as codes in a separate field or column** — never inline superscripts. Superscripts corrupt machine-readable output and are ambiguous at small render sizes. Provide a legend.

**Caveat load:** metadata-driven. Flags and the extraction timestamp stay separate structured fields alongside the block, not prose inside it. Where the interface allows, make the extraction timestamp visible without interaction.

**Infographics and slides collapse into this profile:** the same three fields, same order.

**Failure modes to watch:**

- Dashboards refresh. Either display the live extraction timestamp, or pin the vintage — but never show a static caveat next to a live number.
- A duplicated source. A licence's acknowledgement requirement is met by the `Source:` field; appending `Source: ABS` after a full ABS citation is a second credit line, not compliance.
- An invented title. Where the provider publishes no formal name for the slice, the resource title plus a labelled selection is the answer. Coining one — `General Government Foreign Debt Series` — produces a citation that passes review and misdescribes the data.

## Choosing between profiles

| Question | Answer points to |
|---|---|
| Will readers need to check the methodology? | 3 |
| Is there a statistical annex? | 2 |
| Is the output machine-rendered or refreshed? | 4 |
| Is the whole artefact under 1,000 words with a single headline? | 1 |
| Multiple sources per table, mixed vintages? | 2 or 3 |

When genuinely torn between two, pick the more caveat-heavy one and let an editor cut.