Location of <indexterm> elements

<indexterm> elements can occur in topic prologs, anywhere else in DITA topics, and in DITA maps.

The location of an <indexterm> element determines where the <indexterm> element points to, and where an <indexterm> element points to determines the locators that are rendered in a generated index.

Topic prologs

An <indexterm> element that is located in a topic prolog is a point reference to the title of the topic. If an <indexterm> element has an @end attribute, it is a point reference to the end of the topic.

Anywhere else in a DITA topic

An <indexterm> element that is located in a topic (and not the topic prolog) is a point reference to the location where the <indexterm> element occurs.

DITA maps

An <indexterm> element that is contained by a <topicref> element is a point reference to the title of the topic. If an <indexterm> element has an @end attribute, it is a point reference to the end of the topic. If the topic reference is not bound to a resource, the <indexterm> element has no stated purpose.