Date field for when first published online

A journal we are submitting to wants to have the date when a reference was first published online if the reference has a doi. I don't see that functionality currently in zotero. If the functionality already exists, please let me know. Thanks.
  • This is normally for articles published ahead of print--in that case use the regular date field (and update it once the article is published in print).
    If that´s not the case, do you have an example of what they want?
  • Yes, that's what we've done in the past. The journal is BMJ Open. If it hasn't been published in print they want when it went online and then the doi: Published Online First: 5 February 2004. doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234

    If it is in print they want the usual article citation, then doi and the date it was published online: Ann Rheum Dis 2003;327:765–8 doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234 [published Online First: 5 February 2002].
  • ugh. Yeah, we can´t really do that. You can (ab)use the accessed field for this, but that´s the best I can think of right now.
  • I'm a little surprised I haven't run into this before. More and more articles are being published online before they get into print. Please put this on your feature requests list.
  • Right, but the purpose of a citation is to identify cited items. It makes very little sense to add a "Published online first" date to a citation, which is why it´s not something that journals or style manuals tend to require.
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