This is an element from older versions of this Tag Set (now replaced by the <date-in-citation> element using a @content-type attribute of “access-date”) that records the date on which the cited work was examined.
This element is an artifact, now used only within the <nlm-citation> element, which is deprecated in and after Version 3.0. Use of this element is therefore also deprecated.
Some online resources are changing so quickly that a citation to the resource is not complete without the date on which the cited resource was examined, since a day before or a day later, the relevant material might be different. The <date-in-citation> element is now used to record such information inside <mixed-citation> and <element-citation>s.
<!ELEMENT access-date (#PCDATA %access-date-elements;)* >
(#PCDATA)*
Text, numbers, or special characters, zero or more
Used only in <nlm-citation>, an element-style bibliographic reference (punctuation and spacing removed):
...
<ref>
<nlm-citation publisher-type="book">
<person-group person-group-type="author">
<name>
<surname>Lawrence</surname>
<given-names>Ruth A</given-names>
</name>
</person-group>
<source>A review of the medical benefits and contraindications
to breastfeeding in the United States [Internet]</source>
<year>1997</year>
<month>10</month>
<access-date>cited 2000 Apr 24</access-date>
<publisher-loc>Arlington (VA)</publisher-loc>
<publisher-name>National Center for Education in Maternal
and Child Health</publisher-name>
<fpage>40</fpage>
<comment>Available from:
<ext-link ext-link-type="url" xlink:href="www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/
breastfeedingTIB.pdf">http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/
breastfeedingTIB.pdf</ext-link>
</comment>
</nlm-citation>
</ref>
...
references3.ent