Changes to fields and item types for Zotero 5.1

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  • I found the next issue:

    Sometimes, a journal article are online published on a specific date, let's say 12/2018, and later is published the journal issue to which that article belongs, let's say on 2020. Then, at least for the specific paper I got this, when I added the item to Zotero through its doi, the assigned Date was that of the journal publication.

    Is there some field (possibly to add under Extra) which would suit the online publication date of the journal article?
  • Is there a citation-style standard that requires _both_ an ePub ahead-of-print date and the final true date of publication?
  • edited April 23, 2021
    The CSL 1.0.2 field for that is available-date (if distinct from the date of record)
  • edited May 4, 2021
    Not sure if this has been mentioned over the 10-odd years of this thread, but here goes:

    I'm wondering if the Call Number field will be made available for all item types in the new release. It is currently not present in several (eg web page, podcast, etc).

    I ask because I use the CN field to track items in my ref library, with such entries as F (filing cabinet), L(eLectronic), S (shelf), and so on. This is also true for the types for which it is not present, because I may have, for example, a downloaded copy of the podcast audio stored in my /References folder as an mp3, say, or a copy of the web page which has been printed to a PDF and stored, etc.

    This is not as simple as just doing an entry in the Extra field, since I want the info to be visible in the main display window along with the other fields such as Item Type, Citekey, Author, Date, etc etc. As I see it, this info would not be pulled out of Extra and shown there.

    So, how simple would it be to make Call Number available for all item types?
  • > So, how simple would it be to make Call Number available for all item types?

    +1. That would be very helpful for (nearly) the same reasons jvoros gave.
  • edited June 28, 2021
    User comment here, from sociology, mixed-methods, lot of press article from rss feed in my workflow.

    - Why so much CSL complexity ? "just" enable custom items from 1 to 9 (or even more if posible) so everybody can edit item according to its needs: audio, video, scenic material, and more...No debate about what criteria should be a priori be used for your item type. There is another service that does this, it appears in an excel table where you can decide to display the column associated to the tag, before printing or saving the custom list. And Devs will love this one (like the "just" above) : it looks simple ;) The usecase I am talking from has to do with the construction of anotaded bibliographies, at the beginning of a project for example. See more in the coming point below.
    - +1 for the annotated bibliography case: editing a little line of comment using the "extra" tag is a tweak that works but is limited; Personally, I would like to edit tags like these: objective of the paper, main hypothesis, type of date use, reflexive comment regarding my current investigation, addressed questions to my colleagues. All this in few words. It makes you condense your mind and avoid the anotation obesity and "I could retrieve it later" danger. It matches the collective dimension of research process, and enable iterations of comments between colleagues without passing through hegemonic cloud services. And constitute a perfect document format to prepare a literature review article, even to maintain a continuous literature review process in your field...
    - I think this comment supports @Lauragayle and @WarthogARJ in this thread.
    - Also add a gender tag, lot of violence in this but as a limited approximation it could help balance your biblio, give insightful stats...
    - In that line of thought, add age, race, also "class", all of it editable with the care of the investigator's words
    - Maybe discography metadatas needs specific features? I don't know.
    - Import meta-data from Itunes, clementine, etc. would be so nice right? Or would it mean mixing everything? I do think it would be nice...

    Last, here is a zotero blogpost about how to make note and anote a bibliography, it is in french but with pictures : https://zotero.hypotheses.org/3556. The tweak about how to make a comment using the extra item is well illustrated, it requires by the way the use of 3rd party plugin to edit the production of the form (right-click menu on item). It then shows how to add more comments so a colleague can read and respond, but using this complex CSL things, other services, and the end result is a bit meh. and that is exactly the point that could be to my view improved. It joins previous comments mentioning it is hard to search in a anotated biblio document. There might be a sweet spot for 5.1 improvements here I hope :) or for 5.2...

    Highlights:
    - enable field customisation for each item of your biblio
    - import/export datas from discography services
    - reflect what a comented/anotated bibliography is and how it could add value in research

    Many many thanks!
  • Given that there is now discussion about Zotero 6.0 (and this thread is about a decade old, with the discussion of 5.1 being about six years old) - will 5.1 simply be skipped and the changes rolled into 6.0?
  • 5.1 and 6.0 refer to the same thing, yes, it's just a question on how the Zotero team decides the semantic versioning. Given the addition of the PDF reader, I think they'll go with 6.0, whereas "just" the field changes would probably have been 5.1
  • What type is most appropriate for a preprint in Zotero?
  • I use Report, with the preprint archive and number given in the Report Number field. Once it is formally published (article, book chapter, etc), I cut that identifier out of that field, change the Item Type to the formally published type, and paste the identifier into the Archive field, preserving the info. If it is never formally published, the record remains in a form that distinguishes it in bib styles.

    This workaround will probably become moot once the newer item types are implemented.
  • I suggest Report or Journal Article, but most importantly, put 'Type: article' at the top of Extra. That will get cited correctly as a preprint for styles that support it and will be migrated to a Preprint item when that type is added.
  • > So, how simple would it be to make Call Number available for all item types?
    +1. That would be very helpful for (nearly) the same reasons jvoros gave.

    Same here, I use Call Number for all items with attachments (>90%), incl. display in a column. E.g. Presentations etc.
  • Will there be the item type standard in the final release of 6.0?
  • I don't know if the item type additions will be 6.0 or 6.1, but I'd expect standard to be among them, yes.
  • Thanks, will be a long time waiting?
  • Leider ist einer der Wünsche von theadri (10. Juni 2018) immer noch offen.
    Ich selber habe viel historische Fotos (vor 1900), die ich in Zotero ablegen will.
    Eine Eintragsart 'Foto' fehlt, denn diese sind keine Filme und auch keine Videos.
    Translated with DeepL:
    Unfortunately, one of theadri's wishes (June 10, 2018) is still open.
    I myself have a lot of historical photos (before 1900) that I want to file in Zotero.
    An entry type 'photo' is missing, because these are not films and also not videos.
  • Use type “Artwork” for that
  • @moebio -- nothing at all close on ECLI and other field-specic identifiers
  • Could we have a couple of custom-use fields?
  • There are types of sources (books) such as collections made up of texts by different authors. Such books have, in addition to the authors of individual articles (stories), a compiler. It's about like the author of an article in an encyclopedia. I would like to have a publication type - collection, or the "collection" attribute for a book, and in the set "author, editor, translator" to have another compiler.
  • This is just a book. You can add the compiler to Extra like this:
    Compiler: Last || First

    That will appear in citations for styles that are updated to support this creator type (not many yet)
  • I'm wondering if there are any fields that are visible in ALL ref types, and which could be added as a column to the main view.

    Since Call Number is not yet available to all ref types, I am looking for something else that can function as a sort of "call number" of sorts which will hold alphanumerical strings that allow sorting in the main window (I am arranging items using a Luhmann-esque identifier; don't ask).

    I had hoped that Loc. in Archive would be such a field (because it is pretty much what the field would be), but alas it is not present in Web Page, Blog Post, Email, Podcast, Presentation, etc.

    So, is Call Number for all fields far away? And is there a field visible in all ref types that could function in its stead?
  • Regarding Books
    A2 is secundary author, like editor, but it enters in Zotero as Editor of Series, and thus it is not in the reference list.
    Please change it to Editors.

    I am not sure where to mention this!?
  • @mfbib -- when in doubt, start a new thread. You seem to be talking about RIS import (which has nothing to do with the rest of the thread here), so you would want to mention that and where you're getting the RIS from (FWIW, we're following what Endnote at least used to do on RIS, which is indeed A2 as Series Editor for books).

    Ditto @jvoros -- this thread is unmanageable enough as it is, please start new threads for questions about Zotero
  • @adamsmith Fair call. Have started a new thread.
  • I need a field for eBooks. Is it there and I've missed it? Can I make one?
  • Why do you need a field (I assume you mean item type) for ebooks? For most practical purposes, a book with a URL or a DOI (via the Extra field, currently) works just fine, just as it does for journal articles, almost all of whom are now electronic.
  • Thanks for the quick response and info, but still confused; perhaps you'd be good enough to set me straight:

    If I buy a Kindle eBook, no DOI # is shown in Product Details. They provide the ASIN; not useful. They provide the Page Numbers Source ISBN, which if entered in Zotero, gets the metadata for the primary hardcover or paperback book that the eBook was derived from.

    If I click on the Zotero icon in my browser, it downloads all the metadata, which classifies it as a "Book", no DOI. They do give the Library of Congress Call#, and the OCLC#, which do not seem useful to me.

    I have been manually typing in "ebk/K" or "Gutenberg", or "Archive", whatever, in the Extra field, and select that as a column so I can distinguish what it is and what the source was.

    But if the Item Type options include such things as "blogpost" or "email" or "podcast" why can't it include eBook, which is equally commonplace?
  • @JHHbks -- Books from Archive or Gutenberg have a URL, though, so you can add that. For Kindle books, there's two option -- you can add "Kindle" or "Kindle edition" into the edition field for the simplest version, or use Medium: Kindle version in the Extra field (e.g. for completely accurate APA citations).

    More item types create a messier UI and only make sense if we can actually handle them separately in citation styles -- which again, would mean more work because every citation style then needs to address these somehow. That makes sense for things like blogpost and podcast, which are unique publication formats. Even for e-mail, that may in retrospect have been better left off and be accommodated by a more generic correspondence (or so) item type. Ebooks are really just a different format in which books are published -- hardcover, paperback, ebook. There's no reason to create a different category just because the medium differs.
    I have been manually typing in "ebk/K" or "Gutenberg", or "Archive", whatever, in the Extra field, and select that as a column so I can distinguish what it is and what the source was.
    That's generally what Library Catalogue is intended for.
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