The @conref attribute

The @conref attribute is used to reference content that can be reused. It allows reuse of DITA elements, including topic or map level elements.

The value of the @conref attribute must be a URI reference to a DITA element. See URI-based (direct) addressing for details on specifying URI references to DITA elements. As with other DITA references, a @conref attribute that references a resource without an ID is treated as a reference to the first topic or map in the document.

Note: When using the @conref attribute on an element, the content of that element is ignored. For example, if a phrase is marked up like this:
<ph conref="#topic/ph">Something</ph>
the word "Something" will be replaced by the content of the referenced <ph> element.