XML in chemistry

Many organizations and companies delivering scientific information products are looking at the use of the so-called eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) as a powerful alternative to conventional binary file storage and information exchange. Hence, XML can be regarded as an extension to the well-known HTML or Hyper Text Mark-up Language, which is the language most frequently encountered when viewing web pages on the Internet. In chemistry and associated technical fields, various groups, whether for commercial organizations, academic institutions or government bodies has developed XML formats with similar content but differing data dictionaries and conventions so that they are not compatible with each other.