The ISO Rice model document, 3rd edition

Nermina Ahmić-Beganović on 23 Apr 2024

Summary

The latest edition of the ISO Rice document was published in December 2023.

This post presents the changes introduced in the third English edition and their implications to ISO authors, categorized into "normative changes" vs "editorial changes".

A review of the differences compared to the second French edition, the last French edition published, is also provided.

Introduction

ISO Rice is a "document model" (an exemplar document) developed by the ISO editorial team to demonstrate the elements and requirements for authors of ISO standards.

The latest, 3rd edition, of the ISO Rice document was recently published in December 2023 and it has been incorporated in the official set of Metanorma for ISO samples.

At Metanorma we use the ISO Rice for two purposes:

• as an exemplar for users for authoring ISO standards. The document helps demonstrate the usage of Metanorma markup elements used for ISO.

• as an exemplar for Metanorma rendering of ISO documents, where most elements allowed by ISO DIR 2 are demonstrated in this document.

  Note	There are several allowed elements not demonstrated by ISO Rice, such as repeating table headers and unit statements.

Traditionally, the ISO Rice document is published in both ISO official languages: English and French. Somehow, the latest third Rice model is only published in English.

At the Metanorma editorial team, we have done the following:

• In the Metanorma samples repository, we have updated the French version in a best effort manner to a "3rd edition".

• We also provide an additional language, Chinese, as demonstration of CJK encoding.

History

The ISO Rice document was the brainchild of Joanna "Jo" Goodwin, back then the Manager of Production Services at ISO, who moved on to serve as the Terminology Coordinator for IEC.

Jo is also the author of RFC 5141.

Changes in the 3rd edition

General

The different types of changes encountered in the document are labelled.

For those familiar with ISO terminology, we distinguish:

• "normative changes" as changes that pertain to changes in practice of the ISO document editor;

• "editorial changes" as those that are editorial in effect to the document, with no behavioral changes that apply to an ISO document editor. These include changes in content and formatting to the "ISO 17031-1" fictitious document.

• "Metanorma changes" as changes that require layout updates to Metanorma.

The clauses that are not described below have not been modified significantly in the 3rd edition, i.e. the only modifications that have been done, if any, are slight rewordings.

Metadata changes

Editorial changes:

• Like in every document that has been published in several editions, the ISO Rice document has its document attributes updated.

  • edition;

  • date;

  • reference number; and

  • copyright year.

Metanorma change:

• For the publication date, instead of the full date format (yyyy-mm-dd) used in the 2nd edition, the 3rd edition uses a condensed format that includes only the year and month of publication (yyyy-mm). The user may continue using the full date or the truncated date format.

Logo change

Metanorma change:

• The ISO logo has also been updated compared to the 2nd edition and is shown in New ISO logo.

Figure 1. New ISO logo

Predefined text

Copyright statement

The copyright statement text remained mostly unchanged.

Normative change:

• It is worth noting that ISO started using the HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP for the website URLs, which is entirely appropriate.

  Therefore, clicking the www.iso.org link in the 3rd edition will direct a user to https://www.iso.org, while clicking on the 2nd edition’s URI will attempt to reach http://www.iso.org, and redirect the user to the new link that uses HTTPS.

  The practice of using HTTPS over HTTP applies to all the URLs throughout the document, so users should take note.

Metanorma change:

• There are rephrasing and changing positions of some contact elements.

• Specifically:

  • the place of the publication has been moved from the top to the bottom;

  • the address details have switched places in terms that the "CP 401" is followed by "Ch. de Blandonnet 8";

  • the country name has been removed from the address details.

• Fax details have also been removed, while the email address and the URI for the website have been preceded by the appropriate keywords "Email" and "Website", respectively, followed by a colon.

• Similarly, the keyword "Tel." before the phone number has been replaced with "Phone:".

• A further specification ("or required in the context of its implementation,") has been added in the second sentence of the copyright statement.

• A comparison between the copyright statements in the second and the third edition is shown in Copyright statements in the 2nd (left) and 3rd (right) editions.

Figure 2. Copyright statements in the 2nd (left) and 3rd (right) editions

Terms and definitions

Normative change:

• URLs have been changed to use HTTPS.

Metanorma change:

• The word "terminological" used in the boilerplate is replaced by the word "terminology" in the 3rd edition.

Clauses

Foreword

Normative changes:

• The third paragraph of the Foreword clause, which includes details about the use of patents, is now more detailed, as shown in Use of patents in the second (left) and the third (right) edition.

• The fifth paragraph that refers to the ISO Foreword has been updated (Updated description of the ISO foreword in the second (left) and the third (right) edition.).

• These changes apply to all ISO documents, considering they are part of the Foreword’s template text.

• There is now a new paragraph that tells readers to report issues to national standards bodies, as shown in Additional information about the national standards body.. This is new to the 3rd edition. This change applies to all documents.

Editorial change:

• It is stated in the Foreword of the 3rd edition that the main changes in the Rice document, compared to the 2nd edition, are the updating of normative references and revision of Clause 9.

Example 1. Changes in the Foreword clause.

Figure 3. Use of patents in the second (left) and the third (right) edition

Figure 4. Updated description of the ISO foreword in the second (left) and the third (right) edition.

Figure 5. Additional information about the national standards body.

Introduction

Editorial changes:

• Only the first three paragraphs have been retained while omitting the rest of the text from the 2nd edition.

• Additionally, estimation of the "storage losses" has been updated through the ISO 17301-1:2023/Amd 1:2023 (Amendment 1).

Normative references

Editorial changes:

• As mentioned in the Foreword clause of ISO 17301-1:2023, one of the major differences from the 2nd edition is updating of normative references. Specifically, ISO 16634 was under preparation, in the DIS stage, when the 2nd edition was published. The third edition uses ISO 16634-2:2016 as the normative reference.

• Amendment 1 updates the reference used in Clause 8, and therefore updates the undated reference that has been used initially with its published date as well.

Terms and definitions

Editorial changes:

• Considering the bibliography and normative references have been updated in the third edition, cross-references and source attributes have been updated accordingly. Taking into account that the source should be a dated reference to provide a clause number, the source used for defining the term husked rice yield (3.10) is cited as a dated reference, although it has been listed as an undated reference in the Normative references clause.

• Moreover, the term "husked rice" has been given an alternative name "brown rice".

• This clause has also been slightly modified in terms of rephrasing, adding missing cross-references to other terms specified in the clause, and adding modifications to the referenced sources. Subclause 4.2.1 has been added a new note, and one of the values from Table 1 has been updated.

Specifications

Normative changes:

• The 3rd edition demonstrates the usage of the Key section in the table environment, replacing "Not applicable" with "N/A" and providing the acronym explanation as part of the Key section in the table footer. Users should take note.

Editorial changes:

• The second paragraph has been replaced with a note in the Specifications clause, as shown in Replacement of the paragraph from the 2nd edition (left) with a note in the 3rd edition (right)..

• Similar modifications as in the Terms and definitions have been applied to the Specifications clause.

Figure 6. Replacement of the paragraph from the 2nd edition (left) with a note in the 3rd edition (right).

Metanorma change:

• After further consultations with the ISO editorial team, it is confirmed that the preferable order of the elements in the table footer is as follows:

  1. text;

  2. note;

  3. footnote;

  4. key.

• Moreover, the Key section should be preceded by the boldfaced "Key" title.

Test methods

This clause demonstrates the usage of an admonition in its subclause 6.5.1 Determination.

Editorial changes:

• While the 2nd edition used a caution message, the third one has modified this message to a warning.

• Additionally, the subclause 6.5.2.1 Interlaboratory test has been appended further information shown in Additional content in the Interlaboratory test subclause..

• It is also worth noting that in subclause 6.3, ISO 20483 is cross-referenced as an undated reference, although it has been listed as a dated reference in the Normative references clause.

• Similar to the previous clauses, several definitions of this one have been rewritten to omit redundancy or to provide a further specification.

Figure 7. Additional content in the Interlaboratory test subclause.

Test report

Editorial change:

• The 3rd edition omits item "g) any deviations from the procedure" from the list of the specifications that shall be provided for each test method in the test report.

Packaging

Normative changes:

• When a new annex is added to a document, ISO refers to that annex in the body of the document. This has been demonstrated by adding a paragraph that references to the new Annex E at the end of this clause in Amendment 1.

  Note	This is already required editorial practice, but it is good to see the ISO Rice being updated to reflect this.

• Amendment 1 also replaces cross-references to ISO 8351-1 and ISO 8351-2 with more specific, dated references and updated clause numbers.

Note	This reflects latest ISO editorial practice that dated references are required when cross-referencing to clauses.

Marking and labelling

Editorial changes:

• Clause name "Marking" has been appended with "and labelling" in the 3rd edition. This clause has also been updated to provide more information, as shown in Content of Clause 9 in the second (left) and the third (right) editions..

• Subsequently, it has been specified by Amendment 1 that the first sentence needs to be replaced to point out that the marking and labelling on the packaging shall clearly identify the type of rice.

Figure 8. Content of Clause 9 in the second (left) and the third (right) editions.

Annex A

Normative changes:

• Figure A.1 illustrated a patented item, which shall be avoided. This change indicates that patented items are to be further considered by the committee in publication.

Editorial changes:

• Amendment 1 provides two replacement figures with the appropriate description.

Annex B

Normative changes:

• Considering the use of trade names should be avoided, the trade name "Lugols" has been removed from subclause B.3.2, along with the corresponding footnote, which was present in the 2nd edition to provide further information about "Lugols".

  This change demonstrates to the ISO author the preference to remove existing trade names from content and discursive content such as footnotes.

Editorial changes:

• Having omitted this footnote, along with the footnote from the Normative references section that was used to inform the readers that the ISO 16634 is under preparation, and another one from the subclause 4.2.1, the 3rd edition of the ISO Rice document no longer involves footnotes.

Annex C

Normative changes:

• Annex C demonstrates the updates made in the 3rd edition in terms of adding hyperlinks to some internal document elements, i.e. cross-referencing figures in this specific case.

• It can also be noticed from Differences in Annex C between the second (left) and the third (right) editions. that a further specification has been provided for Figure C.2, while the Key section for Figure C.1 has been updated to list the symbol used on the horizontal axis first, and then the symbol on the vertical axis.

Figure 9. Differences in Annex C between the second (left) and the third (right) editions.

Annex E

Normative change:

• An additional Annex, named "Recommendations relating to storage and transport conditions", has been added through the Amendment 1. Its content is shown in Content of Annex E.. This demonstrates how to add an additional Annex through an Amendment.

Figure 10. Content of Annex E.

Bibliography

Normative changes:

• The references have been updated to be in accordance with the ISO House Style.

• Specifically, the ampersand character (&) has been replaced with the word "and" where applicable, and the italicization of the publication elements has been applied accordingly.

Editorial changes:

• The 3rd edition of the document refers to the newer editions of the literature listed in the Bibliography clause of the 2nd edition.

• The reference to IEC 61010-2 is removed.

English vs. French editions

Background

The 2nd edition of the ISO Rice document in French has been provided by ISO directly.

Since ISO did not publish a 3rd French edition, the Metanorma team has translated the differences found between the 2nd and the 3rd English editions, and applied the corresponding changes to the "3rd" French edition.

Noteworthy mention

The 2nd edition in French uses "modified" additions to the sources for terms 3.11 and 3.12, which are not present in English editions (neither second nor third). These additions are kept in the 3rd edition of the document in French.

This behavior demonstrates to the ISO author that multilingual ISO documents are allowed to have different terminology sources and behavior. This is likely an advanced topic for another blog post.

Note	If you’re interested in this topic, ping us!

Editorial changes

During this process, it was noticed that the wording was initially different in some parts of the text between the second French and English editions:

• For example, "grain ou partie de grain" (translates to "kernel or part of kernel") has been used in French, while "kernel, whole or broken" has been used in English.

It is worth noting that parts like this have not been altered when the French edition was updated, but rather only the analogous changes found between the two editions in English were applied to the 3rd edition of the document in French.

In other words, after applying changes with this approach, the initial differences in wording remained unchanged, as demonstrated by Initial differences in the English and French editions of ISO Rice document.

Example 2. Initial differences in the English and French editions of ISO Rice document

The absolute difference between two independent single test results, obtained using the same method on identical test material in the same laboratory by the same operator using the same equipment within a short interval of time, shall not exceed the arithmetic mean of the values for r obtained from the interlaboratory study for husked rice in more than 5 % of cases:

— ISO 17301-1:2016(E), 6.5.2.2

La différence absolue entre deux résultats d’essai individuels indépendants, obtenus à l’aide de la même méthode, sur un matériau identique, soumis à essai dans le même laboratoire, par le même opérateur, utilisant le même appareillage dans un court intervalle de temps, n’excédera que dans 5 % des cas au plus la moyenne arithmétique des valeurs de r découlant de l’essai interlaboratoires

— ISO 17301-1:2016(F), 6.5.2.2

The quote from the 2nd edition in French translated by Google Translate is as follows:

The absolute difference between two independent individual test results, obtained using the same method, on identical material, tested in the same laboratory, by the same operator, using the same equipment within a short time interval, will only exceed in 5% of cases at most the arithmetic mean of the r values resulting from the interlaboratory test

The absolute difference between two independent single test results shall not exceed the arithmetic mean of the values for the repeatability limit, r, obtained from the interlaboratory study for husked rice in more than 5 % of cases

— ISO 17301-1:2023(E), 6.5.2.2

La différence absolue entre deux résultats d’essai individuels indépendants, n’excédera que dans 5 % des cas au plus la moyenne arithmétique des valeurs de limite de répétabilité, r, découlant de l’essai interlaboratoires

— ISO 17301-1:2023(F), 6.5.2.2

The quote from the 3rd edition in French translated by Google Translate is as follows:

The absolute difference between two independent individual test results will only exceed in 5% of cases at most the arithmetic mean of the repeatability limit values, r, resulting from the interlaboratory test

Conclusion

The important normative change for the ISO document author is:

• The preference of dated references when cross-references are used is made clear.

• Practices regarding patents and trade names need to be adhered to.

• From a style perspective, the ISO editorial team has described the layout of the table footer’s Key section.

The rest are editorial changes.

In summary:

• Metanorma has been updated to handle all the latest editorial practices and requirements demonstrated in the 3rd edition of the ISO Rice document.

• The mn-samples-iso repository has been updated to showcase both the 2016/2017 ISO Rice documents, and the latest 2023/2024 ISO Rice documents, demonstrating the application of Metanorma towards ISO documents.