Python code to handle unicode and codecs properly during CSV => JSON translation

chars.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# encoding: utf-8

import codecs
import csv
import json
import unicodedata

filename = "SurveyofDoctorateRecipients_linkages.csv"
#filename = "SurveyofEarnedDoctorates_linkages.csv"

pubs = []

with codecs.open(filename, encoding="utf8") as f:
    csv_reader = csv.reader(f, delimiter=",")

    # skip header
    next(csv_reader)

    for row in csv_reader:
        dataset, doi, journal, search_term, title = row

        pubs.append({
            "datasets": [ dataset ],
            "title": unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", title),
            "journal": unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", journal),
            "doi": doi,
            "search_term": search_term
            })

with codecs.open("sample.json", "wb", encoding="utf8") as f:
    json.dump(pubs, f, indent=2, sort_keys=True, ensure_ascii=False)