change first letter to full name reference

nick_ctu
Hi i am experiencing a problem with zotero. I use vancouver style and when i cite a reference, the names of the authors show only as first letters eg. S A, J T instead of Smith A, Jones T etc. I try different styles but it won't change. Could you please help me?
  • damnation
    edited December 1, 2022
    That would indicate your data is not entered correctly in Zotero.
    If yes, you might have somehow an item in your document that might not be in your database anymore.
  • nick_ctu
    Ok I am a bit confused now. I don't really understand how come the letter problem has to do with the date installed. However, I tried to find a date button in the program but found none. You mean the date of the program or the reference? Please elaborate and thanks so much for your answer!
  • adamsmith
    That's a typo: "data", not "date" -- in other words, the authors are just not correctly entered in Zotero.
  • nick_ctu
    yes they have the "S A, J T" format already from the programm when I had added them from the internet before i put them as references in office word. So is there something I can do about it?
  • adamsmith
    How many of these do you have? You can obviously fix them manually. Anything else is more complicated and depends on what other information you have -- e.g., do those items have DOIs?
  • nick_ctu
    yes all of them have DOIs, but manually is not an option, they're monre than 40 and I am editing them constantly adding and deleting... Any suggestions?
  • adamsmith
    sorry, what do you mean by "editing them constantly adding and deleting?"

    What I'd do is to export all times with messed up authors to CSV, then open the CSV file in Excel, find the DOI column and copy it, paste it in the Add by identifier window ("magic wand") in Zotero.

    You'll then find the new and original items in the "Duplicate Items" collection in Zotero. Merge them, making sure to always select the newly imported item with correct authors as the default when merging.
  • adamsmith
    I'm also curious where you imported those items from (i.e. what URL)
  • nick_ctu
    All items imported from pubmed. Editing means I am correcting my articles references all the time. Well I am not really sure I got your message...(unhappy worried face, haha)
  • adamsmith
    To be clear, you should be correcting them in Zotero, not in the document. If anything above isn't clear, you'd need to say more
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