---
id: "viafid"
kind: "datatype"
status: "stable"
is_pii: false
categories: ["objectids"]
langs: ["common"]
quality: 90
url: "http://registry.apicrafter.io/datatype/viafid"
---

# VIAF ID (`viafid`)

Identifier of a cluster in the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), an OCLC service that links the authority records of national libraries for the same person, organization, work or place. It has 2 to 9 or 19 to 22 digits and does not start with zero. Data Commons stores it in the viafId property.

- Personal data (PII): no
- Categories: Objects identifiers (objectids)
- Countries: global
- Languages: Common to most languages (common)
- Classification: identifier

## Detection

Regular expression (Python `re`):

```
^[1-9](?:\d{1,8}|\d{18,21})$
```

## Examples

- `44298806` — Foncine, Jean-Louis
- `125715126` — Cairo
- `147680367` — California
- `9972147907520779210008` — Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell (22-digit cluster ID)
- `0147680367` (invalid example) — leading zero

## Mappings

- bioregistry: `viaf`
- wikidata: `P214`

## Translations

- fr: Identifiant VIAF
- ru: Идентификатор VIAF

## Sources

- wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_International_Authority_File>
- wikidata: <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P214>
- other: <https://datacommons.org/browser/viafId>

## Quality

Score 90/100. Missing: detector coverage.

JSON: <http://registry.apicrafter.io/api/v1/datatypes/viafid.json> · Edit: <https://github.com/apicrafter/metacrafter-registry/edit/main/data/datatypes/any/objectids/viafid.yaml>