Zotero importing author names as initials only (e.g., “SS” instead of full name)

Singhallsonu

Hello everyone,

I am facing an issue while importing references into Zotero. When I save items (especially from Google Scholar or directly from Google search results), Zotero sometimes imports author names in abbreviated form, such as “SS” instead of “Sonu Singhal.”

It appears that Zotero is saving a webpage snapshot rather than capturing the full metadata. As a result:

Author names are stored only as initials
Full first names are missing in the library itself

I understand that citation styles like Vancouver use initials in the final output, but in my case, the Zotero library entries themselves are incomplete (only initials available), which makes it difficult to ensure accurate referencing.

Could you please help with:

Why this issue occurs during import?
The best way to ensure full author names are captured consistently?
Any settings or workflow recommendations to avoid this problem in the future?

Thank you in advance for your help!

adamsmith

Zotero imports the most complete name forms available from whichever page it's saving from. The best way to get full first name are high quality sources -- using the published landing page is typically good, though I do get full first names on most items from google scholar.

We'd need examples of pages you're saving from to say more