APA bibliography and citation numbering

Adam.Miller40
I am trying to match the numbering in my bibliography (using APA 7th edition, numeric, superscript) to the citations in my paper. However, when I add a citation it numbers them in order of appearance on the paper rather than matching the number assigned to the alphabetical bibliography. If I add the citations first and generate the bibliography from this then the bibliography is no longer alphabetical and instead matches the numbering of appearance on the paper. Can anyone help me figure out how to fix the citations so that they appear with the proper corresponding number in the alphabetical bibliography?
  • bwiernik
    That citation style is written to have numbers in order of appearance, not alphabetical. It’s working as intended. Is an alphabetical, numeric form of APA required by a specific journal?
  • bwiernik
    edited October 7, 2023
    To edit the style, you would need to copy the “sort” section of the bibliography from the regular apa.csl and add it to the numeric style code in the same spot. Then change the style title and id fields at the top, save, and install into Zotero.

    General style editing instructions: https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/citation_styles/style_editing_step-by-step

    Note that it’s very unusual for a numeric style to sort the bibliography alphabetically, rather than in order of appearance. Unless it’s specifically required by a journal, I would recommend sorting by order of appearance.
Sign In or Register to comment.