User:Nonabelian/RfC

Background
Currently, the citation template provides parameters for the translations of titles, chapters, and quotations of non-English sources, such as:

However, there are no equivalent parameters for author names. For example, there is no way to include both the original script and the romanization of an author's name using dedicated parameters, such as:

This issue affects Chinese, Japanese, Korean and presumably other sources that do not use roman letters too (I'm guessing Cyrillic, Hebrew, Greek etc.)

Current inconsistent approaches and challenges
Users currently adopt various inconsistent methods to handle non-English author names, including:

Fully romanized:

|last=Hong |first=Yi-Seop

Which presents challenges such as:
 * Lack of Original Script: Does not provide the original script, which can be important for verifying the author's identity, academic reputation etc, in their native context. This loss of information can make verifing the source is reliable much harder
 * Ambiguity: Romanized names can be ambiguous, as there can be multiple ways an authors name can be romanized and authors may have similar or identical romanized names but different names in their original script.

Providing just the original script:

|last= 홍 |first= 이섭


 * Inaccessibility: Non-English scripts can be inaccessible to readers who are not familiar with the script, making it difficult for them to understand or verify the author's name.
 * Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Using only the original script can negatively impact the article’s visibility in search results where romanized names are more commonly used.
 * Inconsistency with Metadata: Including only the original script may cause issues with reference management software that expects Romanized names for proper indexing and retrieval.

Providing both using various fields:

|last=Hong [홍] |first=Yi-Seop [이섭]

or:

|author=Hong Yi-Seop [홍이섭]

These methods have limitations, particularly in maintaining metadata integrity and adhering to citation standards.

Issues with current workarounds - author-mask
The current "best practice" is to use the author-mask parameter to include original script names

|last=Chen |first=Mingyuan |last2=Jin |first2=Minbin |author1-mask=Chen Mingyuan (陳明遠); |author2-mask= Jin Minbin (金岷彬)

but it has limit significant limitations:


 * Complexity: It requires duplicating information and incorporating punctuation literals when multiple authors are attributed. For example:


 * Multiple Purposes Conflict: When author-mask is used to remove a repeated name, it cannot simultaneously be used to include script names without causing confusion.


 * Metadata Corruption: Mixing native scripts directly into the author field can corrupt the reference template's metadata, making it unusable for reference management software.


 * Inconsistency with Author-link: Using author-mask alongside author-link can be problematic as it can disrupt the linking mechanism.


 * Punctuation Issues: The need to punctuate correctly between multiple authors is error-prone and not intuitive.

Proposal
To address these issues, we propose the addition of new parameters to the citation template for author names, similar to the existing parameters for titles, chapters, and quotations. These parameters would allow for the inclusion of both the original script and the transliteration of an author's name, such as:

|script-author1= |script-last1= |script-first1=

Pros

 * Consistency: Ensures a uniform approach to citing non-English sources.
 * Clarity: Enhances readability and understanding for both English-speaking and non-English-speaking users.
 * SEO and Accessibility: Improves search engine optimization and accessibility in both languages.
 * Metadata Integrity: Helps maintain clean metadata for references, avoiding issues with current workarounds like the author-mask parameter.
 * Ease of Use: Simplifies the citation process, reducing the complexity and potential for errors associated with manually including script names.
 * Professionalism: Aligns with academic standards where both original and transliterated names are often provided, enhancing the credibility and thoroughness of citations.

Request for Community Input
We seek community input on the following questions:


 * 1) Should new parameters for script author names be added to the citation template?
 * 2) What should the names and structures of these parameters be?
 * 3) How should the new parameters handle the display and metadata for transliterations and original scripts?
 * 4) Are there any potential issues or challenges with this proposal that need to be addressed?

Your feedback is crucial in determining the best approach to enhance the citation template for non-English sources. Please share your thoughts and suggestions!