Structure description ambiguity depending upon which edition of International Tables for (X-ray) Crystallography is used

The editorial policy of certain scientific journals where crystal structure data are published does not expressly specify that all three fractional coordinates of the atoms in the asymmetric unit have to be given for all Wyckoff sites. Owing to the differences between the 1952 edition and the 1983 edition of International Tables for (X-ray) Crystallography - in the way the xyz triplets of certain Wyckoff sites are formulated and also the interchange of Wyckoff letters assigned to the sites - failure to give all three atom coordinates may lead to ambiguities. It is shown that for seven monoclinic space groups (setting with unique axis c), three tetragonal and one cubic space groups (all with origin choice 2, i.e. symmetry centre at the origin) the shortened description may lead to different atom arrangements depending upon which edition of the International Tables is used.