Using Zotero with multiple authors / editors

dryphi

As I'm sure you all know, oftentimes the authoring process involves emailing a paper back and forth between multiple people. Typically, only one of these people (most likely the first author) will have the entire bibliography in their library. The other authors may not have any of the articles in theirs, if they even use Zotero at all.

Could one of the other authors add a new citation somewhere in the paper (using Zotero of course), and would this then merge with the bibliography in the proper order?

How would one of the other authors properly cite one of the articles that is already in the bibliography, assuming he/she does not have that article in his/her library?

Thanks

noksagt

For multiple Zotero users, a Zotero group is the best approach:
https://www.zotero.org/support/groups
Then all relevant references will be shared by all contributors.

For non-zotero users, a more informal process to allow a Zotero user to add references is needed. I tend to encourage any additional references to appear in a comment or directly in the text prepended with "TODO:" or similar.

bwiernik

Also, other authors can add references from their own libraries (not shared in a group), and they will be added to the bibliography as normal. To avoid inserting duplicate references, all authors will need to be sure to choose references from the "Cited" section of the Insert Citation window, rather than any library. The main drawback of this approach compared with groups is that the reference data can only be changed in the library where it is from in the event there is an error (i.e., other authors can't do it within the Word document).

dryphi

Can you please clarify what you mean by the ""Cited" section of the Insert Citation window"?
I have the "Add/Edit Citation" button however I see nothing about "Cited".
Thanks

adamsmith

in an existing document, once you click insert citation and search for a citation in the quick format dialog (the red box that opens), search results are separated by headers. Try this searching for an item that's both already cited in the document and in your library and you'll see.

Edit: but I'd really recommend going with a group. If you know from the start that you'll co-author, that'll make things much easier.

dryphi

I see. Yes I am aware of that feature. Thanks