Strange references in my collection (not mine)

anna.heid
Hello all,

Since I use a shared collection for collaborating on a paper, I experience strange additional references in my collection (some chemical papers we both definitely do not include!)
How can that happen and how to avoid it?

Thanks so much
Anna
  • noksagt
    It shouldn't happen. Double check the members of the group to make sure there are only two of you and make sure that you two aren't using shared computers that another person may have used inadvertently. Also look at the date the resources were created to see if one of you may have missed a translator issue that imported improper references.
  • anna.heid
    Thanks so much!
    I know, it's weird.

    The settings state:
    Group Type: Private
    Group Library: Only members can view and edit
    Members: 2
  • adamsmith
    what do those items say under library catalog?
  • anna.heid
    Group Type
    Private

    Library Reading
    Any group member

    Library Editing
    Any group member

    File Editing
    Any group member

    Thanks so much!!
  • adamsmith
    no, I mean the items that look strange, scroll down in the info pane in Zotero and see what it says in the Library Catalog field.
  • anna.heid
    Sorry!

    Archiv: blanc
    Location in archive: blanc
    Library Catalogue: PubMed

    Is that what you were looking for?
  • adamsmith
    yes -- given that, what's almost certainly happening is that you're trying to add items by identifier (ISBN or DOI) and Zotero isn't finding those (or you have spaces inside an identifier) and then interprets them as pubmed IDs and retrieves the corresponding articles. Does that sound like it could have happened?
  • anna.heid
    Hi Adam!
    Actually not, within the last days we haven't touched the library at all and didn't work on the paper
  • noksagt
    But what is the creation date on those items? Is it possible they were old and you didn't notice? The library should also list which user added the item.
  • anna.heid
    It doesn't state who inserted the references, unfortunately...
    But they were all added within a short time frame of an hour.
    I deleted them now and hope it won't happen again.
    Thanks so much!
  • noksagt
    The online library includes an 'added by' field. See, e.g. my username at the top of
    https://www.zotero.org/groups/nerd_nite_east_bay/items/collectionKey/9RKFM72R/itemKey/WCD3HM2B

    But I think we've identified the most likely software errors (particularly brown translators that go unnoticed) and user mistakes (e.g. accidentally allowing access to your account on a shared system or not noticing what reference may have been added particularly when using add by identifier) in this thread.
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