ciation number display error with superscript style

shenjun

I want to insert 2 citations into word 2007 with superscript style but the citation number seems to be incorrect.

I click the "insert citation" button on the toolbar and the dialog opened, then I choose the first citation (called citation A) and click "open editor" to set the citation with superscript style. It seems to be ok and citation A got the citation number [1].

But when I insert another citation (called citation B) before citation A with the same operation, the displayed citation number of citation B is [2] and the citation A is still [1], which is not correct.

But in bibliography, the citation number is right, so citation B corresponds to [1] and citation A corresponds to [2].

I want to show citation number superscript or not superscript in the same document. So is there some way to meet this requirement? Thanks.

ps
I have tried 1.09 and 1.5b2, and the two version both have the same problem.

heromyth

It seems a big bug. You can't use the "open editor" to set any style.

If want to set superscript style, you can modify the CSL files which are in \zotero\styles. See http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/6317/automatically-superscript-citations-in-word-2007/#Item_21

shenjun

Thanks heromyth!
I will try your modifications.
Is it possible to have both superscript and not superscript style in one document?

dstillman

When you make modifications via the editor, the displayed field value is no longer automatically updated.

The upcoming new CSL processor will offer better support for superscripted citations.

heromyth

To # shenjun
In one document, you just have only one citation layout section. So, you can't.

shenjun

Just as Dan said, the problem is that the "open editor" cannot automatically update the displayed field. Hope this bug can be solved soon.

dstillman

shenjun: That part isn't a bug—that's just how customized citations work. The problem (from what I gather) is lack of support for superscripting citation prefix and suffixes, which will be supported in the new CSL processor.

shenjun

Dan: It's not only the problem that lack of support for superscripting citation prefix and suffixes. I also wonder if it is possible to have both superscript and no superscript style in one document. For example, if I write the following content:

in [1], something is proposed.
The conclusion is that something else is better [2].

I want citation style of [1] is normal (no superscript ) and citation style of [2] is superscript.

Please consider about this requirement, thanks!

fbennett

shenjun,

Is there a style somewhere of a publisher or a journal that requires citations with mixed formatting like this? It seems to me that it would be hard for a reader to follow -- if you were scanning such a document for references to source [2], say, you would have to look for both the superscript and the non-superscript form. In a densely typeset document, that could take twice as much effort, or more. (Stated more simply, it would look cluttered and uneven on the page.) For that reason, unless there is a significant demand for mixed formatting like that among publishers, I kind of doubt there will be much enthusiasm for supporting it.

If I've misunderstood what you're after, please follow up.

FB

shenjun

to # fbennett:
Yes, there is a style that requires mixed formatting. I'm writing my Ph.D dissertation in Chinese. I was asked to use the mixed citation style by my university. In China, the mixed style is popular.

With zotero, I can easily insert citation while writing my dissertation. But I cannot use the mixed style directly. By now, I think one way to solve the problem is to set the style manually when there is no more citation to be insert.

fbennett

Can you post a link to the style guide? A Chinese version is fine; I'd like to have access to the original doc. I'm curious what the rules are for the alternative decorations. In your example, is it triggered by the fact that [2] occurs before a period? Or do [1] and [2] have different characteristics in the reference?

shenjun

I upload one sample pdf file to my skydrive, the link is

http://cid-df08b43037ee5bf5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/mixed%20citation%20style.pdf

or you can get it from
http://www.box.net/shared/fpgyyhjb4b

In this paper, citation [1-3] is superscript, citation [4] and [5] is not superscript. But they all have the same characteristics in the reference.

fbennett

shenjun,

Thanks for this link. I've downloaded the paper and taken a look, and I think that I see what's going on with the style. The non-superscript references are all preceded by the term 「文献」, which I guess means the same thing it does in Japanese ("source", or "reference"). So the non-superscript references would be, in English, something like "Reference [5] proves that water is wet.", while the superscript references would be something like "It is possible to measure the wetness of water.[1-3]"

So your non-superscript references are, semantically, something similar to "Figure 3 shows the impact of rainfall on wetness," which makes the reference number part of the text, hence no superscripting.

I understand the use case, and can see that it is a natural part of academic writing style in Chinese, and possibly other languages. If it is common, I am inclined to think (personally) that it should be supported -- but whether it gets implemented is another matter. It would need to be handled by a UI option similar to the "suppress author" toggle in Zotero, so the Zotero team would need to be convinced that it is important enough to warrant support. It also affects the formatting of the citation, which means that the CSL formatting language itself would need to be extended to detect the option.

There is a further difficulty, in that references of this kind are going to be hard to represent in all styles. What happens, for example, if you change the reference style of the document to an author-date style, or a footnote style? It may not seem relevant if all of your own writing uses numbered styles, but that malleability is considered a core feature in the design of CSL, and it needs to be supported. That's going to be the most difficult point, I think, and it could take quite some time to work through the issues.

I can call this to the attention of the CSL developers, and from there we'll have to see how it goes. For the present, though, this is definitely not a supported feature.

Thanks for providing the sample document. If you come across a formal style guide that spells out this requirement, please add it to this thread; that documentation would also be helpful.

Frank Bennett

shenjun

to # fbennett
I searched the web and found that there is a national standard (GB7714-87) about the style of reference in China. But the standard is written in Chinese. I uploaded it to skydrive.

http://cid-df08b43037ee5bf5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/GB7714-87.pdf

In its sample, the standard recommends to use superscript style. But I also found many comments for the standard on the web say that whether to be superscript or non-superscript should based on the position where the citation appears.

I checked some style guide but they are all written in Chinese, I didn't find any formal style guide written in English by now. If I get the English version, I will add it.

fbennett

Thanks, got it. Chinese documents are fine; I am surrounded by Chinese speakers at work, both students and colleagues.

What do you mean by "based on the position in which the citation appears"? If my understanding of the use case is wrong, please correct me.

shenjun

to # fbennett:
Your understanding of the use case is right. What I mean is the same as the use case.

I got a template of Chinese journal,

http://cid-df08b43037ee5bf5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/template.doc

the citation [1] and [6] in the document demonstrate the style required in the Chinese journal.