The Zotero browser plugin caused Elsevier to be identified as a bot and denied access.

aqq12321
Recently, when trying to access Elsevier or download PDF documents, I always encounter an issue and receive the message: "There was a problem providing the content you requested." After consulting Elsevier's official support, they replied as follows:"Apologies for the inconvenience, we recently identified that the reference manager Zotero has an autoupload or autodownload/ automation feature which is the reason why ScienceDirect is flagging its users."
  • dstillman
    Likely just this:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/451390/#Comment_451390

    And also:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/463841/#Comment_463841
  • aqq12321
    It's not an issue with saving PDFs, but rather that having the Zotero plugin in the browser causes any Elsevier webpage to be inaccessible. I now have to disable the Zotero plugin in the browser to access these pages normally.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11018572/2n6y6vx9piqvjgh2fjx1.png
  • dstillman
    You're saying if you just disable the Zotero Connector and reload the page, you're able to access it normally? But if you enable it again you're blocked?
  • DWL-SDCA
    edited June 13, 2024
    This happened to me today and I have NOT downloaded a PDF from ScienceDirect in many months. I revisited using a VPN and was able to download metadata.

    I'll try again tomorrow and restart Zotero with logging enabled (if that might provide useful information). I'll try without the VPN and if that fails with the VPN and connecting with Zotero.

    I was using Zotero when I received a ScienceDirest message similar to the first message mentioned above but my error made no mention of Zotero and it happened when requesting 10 records from the current issue of Safety Science. I regularly visit ScienceDirect and often visited and download metadata from several journals -- as many as 50 to 75 articles each day. I thought that ScienceDirect had flagged my IP address. Through my foundation, I have a formal cooperative agreement with Elsevier's A&I department to index selected items from their journals.

    When I visited and captured metadata successfully, I didn't use Zotero but downloaded an RIS. (which I imported to Zotero). I dismissed this as a temporary glitch. Does Zotero announce itself when making requests resulting from a user clicking the browser icon? (I don't know why I just fetched an RIS file instead of my usual practice of using Zotero. I do it that way now and then.)

    If it might make a difference, I'm on beta 85. I've seen beta 88 mentioned but when I request update I receive a message that I'm up to date. I use a Mac.
  • dstillman
    This is about the Zotero Connector, not the app. For now, we just need an answer to my question above.
  • dstillman
    @DWL-SDCA: Re: your edits, not sure I understand. Are you saying when this happened you were saving multiple items via Save to Zotero? Or that you were downloading a RIS file?
  • dstillman
    Also, @aqq12321, @DWL-SDCA, what browser was this in?
  • DWL-SDCA
    edited June 13, 2024
    In my case Firefox. edit: I accepted a Firefox update this morning as I started my work.

    It happened when I selected ten records from the Save to Zotero folder icon. I didn't select all of the available items. This was my first contact with ScienceDirect today. Later, I downloaded an RIS file of the items using a VPN [without Zotero's assistance] so that success doesn't provide much information (although I guess it may indicate that they aren't using attributes of my machine to identify me.) I didn't try using Zotero with the VPN because I didn't think that Zotero might be related to the problem. I didn't think about Zotero until I read aqq12321's post. I'm on my iPad this evening and away from the Mac where I had the problem.

    On Thursday I will restart Zotero with logging enabled and provide debug and report numbers if/when the request is rejected by ScienceDirect.

    Edit: I recognize that this is a very large issue if Elsevier is mentioning Zotero when acknowledging a report of a problem. I'll do any testing you request to help get to the basis of the issue. Again, I didn't think much of the issue when I encountered it. I thought that it was related to a failed prove-you-are-human test.

    Edit: in my second case the Zotero connector was not involved when downloading the RIS. I apologize about not being clear. I now realize the the connector is the key factor here.
  • DWL-SDCA
    This morning:
    I visited the ScienceDirect website for Transport Policy before I opened Zotero. I received an error "This site is very busy right now" try again later. I have never experienced that error on ScienceDirect before.

    However, when I tried to connect with Zotero on I received the following error screen:

    There was a problem providing the content you requested

    Please contact us via our support center for more information and provide the details below.

    Reference Number: 89332f381e8e27c5

    IP Address: 72.197.25.234

    User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:127.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/127.0

    Timestamp: 2024-06-13 15:41:22 UTC

    I received a large amount of text in Terminal upon opening Zotero (copied to a file that I will email to Support). But accessing debug log after visiting the ScienceDirect site I only received the following very brief debug text:


    1718293202627 addons.xpi WARN Checking /Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/Resources/distribution/extensions for addons

    1718293205393 addons.xpi WARN Addon with ID undefined already installed, older version will be disabled

    [JavaScript Error: "Error: Addon must include an id, version, and type" {file: "resource://gre/modules/addons/XPIProvider.jsm" line: 1723}]

    [JavaScript Error: "Error: Addon must include an id, version, and type" {file: "resource://gre/modules/addons/XPIProvider.jsm" line: 1723}]

    appName => Zotero, version => 7.0.0-beta.85+c0c00a00e, os => macOS 14.5, locale => en-US, extensions => OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. (1.8.1.2, plugin), Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc. (4.10.2710.0, plugin)


    I quit Zotero and opened it normally activatd debug visited the ScienceDirect site, received the same error message for two different journals:

    D155168591

    I don't see anything (maybe it is there) related to a failed connection. Is there something I should do to get you what you need? In other words, is there a setting for a connector debug that isn't provided on the regular debug I provided?

    I quit Zotero, revisited Science Direct and received a similar message.




  • DWL-SDCA
    Maybe good news:

    After quitting all apps and restarting my Mac I am able to connect to the following page without error:

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/transportation-research-part-f-traffic-psychology-and-behaviour/issues

    I can open Zotero and reach the following webpage without error after downloading an individual article and also using the folder connector to download multiple items (No PDFs).

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/transportation-research-part-e-logistics-and-transportation-review/vol/185/suppl/C

    I tested further with two other journals and I was able to access the sites and download multiple items with the connector.

    I commented to my contact with abstracting & indexing by email last night. I have yet to receive a reply.

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