Importing fields from BibTeX

Matherion

Hey there,

this may be a stupid question, and this request has been posted already a few times, but no reaction has come, and the last post was a year ago or so, so I'd though I'd re-post :-)

For me, reference software is as much my 'memory' as it is a tool to get the bibliography in my manuscrupts done. For example, currently I'm conducting a review, to which end I've created a number of custom fields in JabRef (so, BibTeX format) to store my comments in the screening process. I can then later let other authors screen this, and we can combine our results, export to SPSS or Excel, and calculate the degree to which we agree. Other such custom fields I use are library codes in my own library (as opposed to the default library holding fields, containing the holding information in our university's library). As you will understand, as long as Zotero keeps dropping these fields on import, it can never replace my current referencing software (which is actually a combination of Endnote and JabRef) . . .

One of the features of JabRef that impressed me was its flexibility. It no longer imposed a set of record types and fields on the user, but allowed the user to create these on the go, thereby acknowledging this need I explained above . . . It would be great if Zotero could ahre this flexibility!

(Sadly, I know next to nothing about Java and Javascript programming, and even less about data structures, so I have no idea whether this is actually feasible, but it would be great if someone could reply to this!)

Thanks in advance and kind regards,

Gjalt-Jorn

fcorreia

One of the features of JabRef that impressed me was its flexibility. It no longer imposed a set of record types and fields on the user, but allowed the user to create these on the go, thereby acknowledging this need I explained above . . . It would be great if Zotero could ahre this flexibility!

I personally think this kind of flexibility is dangerous :) One consequence is precisely what you are now feeling: the difficulty of interoperability with other systems. If it's not part of the standard (well.. bibtex is a "de facto standard", right?), it is not interoperable, because one cannot expect other to "subvert" the standard in all the different ways users might ask.

Having said this, in Zotero you can add notes to each entry. I think this feature may help with what you want (you can store extra info there, although it won't probably be possible to import your custom fields automatically).

Cheers!

peircej

I agree with Matherion. Software shouldn't aim to limit itself, just in order to stay safe. You wouldn't want a database system to limit your choice of fieldnames just in case you switch to another database with different names. You expect it to provide a method of relating one to another if there isn't an obvious match.

For bibliography software, there are going to be a large number of different fieldnames/types that will be useful for different (academic) fields. These are also likely to change (note the addition in recent years of DOIs and URLs in referencing). Intelligent flexibility is the way forward.

As an example Journal of Vision requires in its references the pubmed url of the article as a link as well as the full-text url if possible. I don't see how url attachments will work (they can't be included in bibliographies can they?) So what do I do?
a) not use that journal
b) do it manually
c) switch (back) to endnote and regret having made the effort in the first place

It really is important to be flexible. Standards are handy for the developer, but they need to cope with the real world, which often isn't standard.

Jon