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Prefixes are used to preface a story name, given as the source for a statement of fact in an article. In the example, "The Tenth Doctor once ate a part of a chocolate Easter egg. (DW: Planet of the Dead)", the prefix is DW.
Origin and consensus for this system
This method of inline source citation was decided by community consensus in the first year of the wiki's operation and has survived several challenges to uproot it. The longest and most sustained challenge to the system can be found at Forum:Can we change how stories are cited? Given early administrators' admiration for Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki, this prefixing system is likely to have derived from MA.
The following article explains how prefixes are used on this wiki, then gives a list ordered by medium.
Usage
Prefixes may be a foreign concept to users coming from academia, Wikipedia, or other reference projects. They are a kind of shorthand which obviates the need for laborious in-line citation or footnotes. They allow a few letters and a linked story name to subsitute for anything more formal.
For instance, an obvious use of a prefix would be
- Sarah Jane Smith met the Third Doctor whilst pretending to be her aunt, Lavinia Smith. (DW: The Time Warrior)
The DW saves the editor the bother of having to type,
- Sarah Jane Smith met the Third Doctor whilst pretending to be her aunt, Lavinia Smith, in the Doctor Who television serial, The Time Warrior.
New editors may wish to bookmark this page for easy reference, at least until they become more familiar with the more arcane prefixes used on this site.
Television/Film/Video/Web
BBC
In-universe
- DW - Doctor Who, by which is meant "any episode or serial of Doctor Who to have premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One, Two, Three or Red Button, which does not offend our canon policy." DW cannot, therefore, be used for the two 1960s Dalek theatrical films, or for Dimensions in Time, The Curse of Fatal Death, or any other parodic material. Per a forum discussion, however, DW is the appropriate prefix for the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the BBC Wales series, such as the Meanwhile in the TARDIS vignettes.
- KAC - K9 and Company. Because there was only one episode ever made, this prefix has exactly one usage: "(KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)". Note that writing "(KAC: K9 and Company)" is both redundant and incorrect, and that using "KAC" in conjunction with spin-off material, like the 1983 K9 annual, is also incorrect.
- SJA - The Sarah Jane Adventures
- SJAF - Sarah Jane's Alien Files
- TS - Doctor Who Tardisodes. To the extent that these are even remembered, many will recall them as having appeared on the oficial DW website. One might therefore be tempted to use the prefix WC to describe them. However, their intended platform was the mobile phone, making them unique amongst DW narratives, and necessitating a unique prefix.
- TW - Torchwood
- WEB - refers to fictional information on a limited number of official, in-universe websites that are wholly fictional. Not to be confused with WC, which refers to an individual feature on an official website that is mostly not an in-universe website.
- VG - refers to a video game, which, with the advent of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, may therefore include material found on the BBC website. Not all video games, of course, are made by the BBC, but this prefix may be used, so long as the game was licensed by the BBC.
Real world
Generally, the following sources should be used on real world pages. However, information from these sources could conceivably be used in "behind the scenes" sections of in-universe articles.
- CON - Doctor Who Confidential
- TWD - Torchwood Declassified
- INFO - BBC DVD info texts
- PCOM - BBC podcast commentaries
- DCOM - BBC DVD commentaries
Mixed use
- WC - Webcast, by which is usually meant, "comic, prose or animated fiction, published to websites of entities who produce licensed Doctor Who material", such as the BBC's official website. A good example of proper usage is WC: Real Time. However, official sites have, in exceptional circumstances, published behind-the-scenes material, such as WC: Doctor Who Video Explorer, or any one of a number of videos on the BBC America website. Thus the prefix can actually mean that the cited resource is either in- or out-of-universe. It can also be used beyond BBC websites, so long as that website is officially licensed, as with Big Finish Productions' website.
Non-BBC
- K9TV - episodes of the K9 TV series
- K9CP - "Character Profiles" from the K9 Series 1 DVDs. Not for use in in-universe articles.
- BBV - BBV Productions
- RP - Reeltime Pictures
Audio
Big Finish Productions
In-universe
- BFA - Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Dramas
- BFBS - Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series audio stories
- BFC - Cyberman (audio series)
- BFD - I, Davros
- BFDE - Dalek Empire (Big Finish)
- BFG - Gallifrey (audio series)
- IW - Iris Wildthyme (Big Finish series)
- JAL - Jago and Litefoot
- BFSJS - Sarah Jane Smith (audio series)
- BFU - UNIT (audio series)
- CC - The Companion Chronicles
- BFDWU - Doctor Who Unbound
- GRC - Graceless
Real world
- BFX - CD extras from any range of Big Finish releases
BBC
- BBCR - Doctor Who universe stories which were originally made public as broadcasts on BBC Radio.
- BFA/BBCR - Collaborations between Big Finish and BBC Radio (i.e. series 1 of The New Eighth Doctor Adventures)
- NSA - BBC New Series Adventures
- SJAA - The Sarah Jane Adventures audiobooks.
- TWA - Torchwood audiobooks.
AudioGO
- AG - Long-time editors will know that this prefix used to be BBCA. However, owing to the purchase of BBC Audiobooks by AudioGo, the entity known as "BBC Audio" was downgraded to a mere imprint, and the entire back catalogue of Doctor Who material became AudioGo's to play with. This abbreviation is therefore used for anything released under the BBC Audio or AudioGo logos which does not fall into other categories. For example the Hornets' Nest range, the various soundtracks to missing episodes, and the new audio novelisation of The Stones of Blood would be prefixed by AG, but not any of the audiobooks that appear on the New Series Adventures page, nor those audios which would be better tagged with SJAA or TWA. Target Books novelisations would generally be prefaced with DWN, unless one were discussing something specific to the audio, in which case it would be prefaced with AG. [Please note that BBCA is now a redirect for BBC America.]
Others
- BBV - BBV Productions output (note that not everything made by BBV is a valid source on this wiki)
- KC - Magic Bullet Productions' Kaldor City audios
Prose
Novels
Sparrow Books
- AK9 - The Adventures of K9 (1980)
Target Books
- DWN - Doctor Who novelisations (1964-1994, 1996, 2012)
- TC - Target Companions of Doctor Who (1986-1987)
- TME - Target Missing Episodes (1989-1990)
Virgin Publishing
- BNA - Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures (1997-1999)
- MA - Virgin Missing Adventures (1994-1997)
- NA - Virgin New Adventures (1991-1997)
BBC Books
- DYD - Decide Your Destiny series (2007-present)
- EDA - BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (1997-2005)
- NSA - BBC New Series Adventures (Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctor novels) (2005-present)
- PDA - BBC Past Doctor Adventures (1997-2005)
- QR - Quick Reads (2006-present)
- TDL - The Darksmith Legacy series (2009)
- TWN - BBC Torchwood novels (2007-present)
- DWN - The novelisation Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film (1996)
Big Finish Productions
- BFBS - Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Adventures novels (2000-present)
- BFNW - Big Finish New Worlds (2005)
Penguin Character Books
- SJAN - The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations (2007-2010)
Telos Novellas
- TN - Telos Doctor Who novellas (2001-2004)
- THN - Time Hunter novellas (2003-2007)
Short prose fiction
- BFBS - Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Adventures prose anthologies (2000-present)
- BE - Brief Encounter prose stories published in Doctor Who Magazine and Doctor Who Yearbooks
- RT - Radio Times prose stories
- ST - Short Trips anthology prose stories (includes both BBC Books and Big Finish) (1998-2009)
- VD - Virgin Decalogs anthology prose stories (1994-1997)
Annual publications
There are a wide variety of prefixes used for publications which appeared annually. Note that these prefixes apply to both comic and prose stories.
- DAN - for works from the Dalek annuals, like Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1976
- DWAN - for works from Doctor Who annuals, as published mainly by World Distributors (Manchester), Ltd and BBC Books. Basically, if the cover has the words "Doctor Who" and "Annual" on it, use this prefix.
- DWS - for works from Doctor Who Storybooks, like Doctor Who Storybook 2007
- DWY - for works from the Doctor Who Yearbooks, like Doctor Who Yearbook 1992
- IDW - for IDW Publishing annuals, such as Doctor Who Annual 2010 and Doctor Who Annual 2011
- K9AN — for works from K9 Annual 1983 (and any annuals which may eventually arise from K9)
- PHS - Stories published by Polystyle, but not under either Countdown or TV Comic. Thus, stories from Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973, Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974, and Doctor Who Winter Special 1977.
- TVA - Countdown and TV Action annuals
- TVC - TV Comic annuals
Other
- CP - Charity publications, not allowable in in-universe articles. Such sources can only be cited in behind-the-scenes sections or real world articles, per our canon policy.
- IW - Iris Wildthyme novels, novellas and short stories by Snowbooks Ltd and Obverse Books.
Comics
The important thing to remember about citing comic stories is that comic strips are frequently reprinted. It is important, therefore, that we cite the publication of first publication. For instance, DWM: The Stockbridge Horror' is correct, while DW84: The Stockbridge Horror should only be used when referring to differences between the original printing and the American reprint. The following list of prefixes is alphabetised.
Regular publications
- DH - Death's Head (1988)
- DW84 - material original to Doctor Who (1984) published in the US by Marvel
- DWA - Doctor Who Adventures comics and prose stories
- DWBIT - Doctor Who: Battles in Time
- DWC - Doctor Who Classics
- DWCC - Doctor Who Classic Comics
- DWF - Doctor Who Files
- DWM - Doctor Who Magazine comics and prose stories.
- DWMI - Doctor Who: Monster Invasion magazine
- DWMS - Doctor Who Magazine specials. Comics and prose stories originating in the holiday and season-specific specials and any other specials.
- DWPM - Doctor Who Poster Magazine
- DWMAC - material original to Doctor Who Marvel Adventure Comic
- GN - Stories that were originally printed as graphic novels, such as The Only Good Dalek. This prefix should not be used with collected editions of reprinted stories.
- IDW - IDW Publishing's line of original Doctor Who comics
- IHP - Seventh Doctor comic strips original to The Incredible Hulk Presents
- RT - Radio Times comics
- TM - Torchwood Magazine
- TV21 - Short for TV Century 21, the magazine that first printed what later became known as The Dalek Chronicles.
- TVA - Countdown and TV Action comics
- TVC - TV Comic strips
Annual publications
There are a wide variety of prefixes used for publications which appeared annually. Note that these prefixes apply to both comic and prose stories.
- DAN - for works from the Dalek annuals, like Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1976
- DWAN - for works from Doctor Who annuals, as published mainly by World Distributors (Manchester), Ltd and BBC Books. Basically, if the cover has the words "Doctor Who" and "Annual" on it, use this prefix.
- DWS - for works from Doctor Who Storybooks, like Doctor Who Storybook 2007
- DWY - for works from the Doctor Who Yearbooks, like Doctor Who Yearbook 1992. This does not include the Brief Encounter series, which goes under BE.
- IDW - for IDW Publishing annuals, such as Doctor Who Annual 2010 and Doctor Who Annual 2011
- K9AN — for works from K9 Annual 1983 (and any annuals which may eventually arise from K9)
- PHS - Stories published by Polystyle, but not under either Countdown or TV Comic. Thus, stories from Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973, Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974, and Doctor Who Winter Special 1977.
- TVA - Countdown and TV Action annuals
- TVC - TV Comic annuals
Other
- REF - Reference books
- DOC - Documentaries
- SP - Stage play
- VG - Video games