test.xml
<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
<applications>
<application>
<journalNumber>1</journalNumber>
</application>
<application>
<journalNumber>2</journalNumber>
</application>
</applications>
Python 3
from lxml import etree
etxml = etree.parse('test.xml')
root = etxml.getroot()
values = root.xpath("//*[local-name() = 'journalNumber']")
for value in values:
print('XML: ', etree.tostring(value, encoding='unicode'))
print('Text: ', value.text)
Output
XML: <journalNumber>1</journalNumber>
Text: 1
XML: <journalNumber>2</journalNumber>
Text: 2
