Google Scholar Translation issues

I have been using Zotero Standalone with Firefox with no problems. Yesterday I stopped being able to save citations from Google scholar. I am still able to save citations from sites like Wiley Online, but not scholar.

I have both my browser and zotero standalone up to date. I have tried using different computers (Windows 10 and windows 7), internet connections and browsers (Firefox and Chrome), with and without Zotero Standalone and the result is the same.

I think the issue could be related to the installing of zotfile. I reached my quota in Zotero so I used zotfile to copy the attachments to a place in my computer. After that I was unable to save citations. It could be a coincidence, but I think it's related. I tried again with Standalone (without zotfile) in another computer and it still did not work. I have been browsing forums and websites trying to find a solution to not avail. Is there a way to identify and fix my problem? Any advice would be welcomed.

Thank you
«13
  • We'd need a Report ID and an example URL that fails.
  • I understand:
    Report ID: 819173577

    https://scholar.google.co.jp/scholar?q=Los+Nukak+y++los+limites+ambientales&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5

    I wanted to save the first citation, but I could not.

    https://scholar.google.co.jp/scholar?q=The+human+impact+in+Pleistocene-Holocene+extinctions+in+South+America.+The+Pampean+case&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5

    I also wanted to add this citation, but could not.

    Thank you
  • Hi. Sorry for the english if not correct but i'm french
    I have the same problem of xelloss100.
    I used Google Scholar for 2 weeks, everyday and this morning, it doesn't work.
    I receive this advice : "An error occurred while saving this item. Check Known Translator Issues for more information"
    But I can continue using Zotero with Chrome when I take others sites.
    I discover I had reach the maximum free storage, so I bought some other storage but that didn't resolve the problem.
    I did every update, I reset the translators, I reset computer and brothers, I erase cookies but nothing change
    It's very hard for me because I find every think I need on Scholar and nowhere else and I have to give a work for some days.
    Please help me
  • I'm getting consistent error on google scholar. It'd be great if someone could look at that. Needless to say it'd be bad if this were broken long, but I'm about to be off the grid until next Thursday and not sure I'll be able to do this before.

    (@Dan -- I'd recommend pinning)
  • Same problem with Google Scholar:

    Report ID: 296038086
    URL: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=On+Scientific+Research%3A+The+Role+of+Statistical+Modeling+and+Hypothesis+Testing&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C14&as_sdtp=

    While using Google Scholar to obtain citations, I received an errot message on clicking the translator icon: "Could not save item - An error occured while saving this item." I closed and restarted Firefox, and the error recurred. I then navigated to the jounal site of the citation, and was able to save successfully. I then tried the steps given in Zotero's "Troubleshooting Translator Issues" page, but these did not resolve the problem. I'm running Zotero 4.0.29.10 and Firefox 47.0.1 in Apple OS X 10.8.5. The pop-up hovering over the translator icon is "Save to Zotero ... (Google Scholar)". Note that I do have proxies enabled for several bibliographic websites via my university library account (and I don't know how to turn them off in Zotero, in order to test that possibility).

    Your help will be greatly appreciated.
  • I have the same problem today. I note that other supported sites such as the New York Times and Wikipedia translators work. I'm having this problem only with Google Scholar today.
  • Thanks. We don't need any more error reports -- google scholar import is broken, we're aware of it, and we'll post here once we have a fix in place. If you haven't posted here yet, you can subscribe to this thread on the left. If you have posted already, you're automatically subscribed.
    Sorry for the inconvenience.
  • It seems that Google Scholar just changed the link to the BibTeX file. Currently we expect in the translator a relative url to this file. @Dan, @adamsmith I created a PR in the translators directory in GitHub to fix it.
  • An fix is now up (thanks to zuphilip) -- it has not been thoroughly tested, so please let us know how it goes.
  • It works fine for me now. Thank you!
  • For those of us that are not super code savvy, can you walk us through how to update this code? I found it on GitHub here: https://github.com/zotero/translators/commit/4f435f5fc59b82f3b607c9d97292dceea8f063d0
  • You can just wait for the automatic update of your translators or update your translators manually by pressing the "Update now" button in the preferences General tab https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/general
  • Did that and it did not work, but deleted and reloaded the extension in Google and it works fine now. Probably should do both. THANK YOU!!!
  • Unfortunately updating the translaters and deleting and reloading the extension in Google did not work for me. Anyone else having this issue?
  • Supplemental note: I closed the desktop version of Zotero and then saved a citation from Scholar to the web version. After that worked, I opened the desktop version again and that is working now too. Problem solved!
  • It works fine for me too. Thank you very much. I take advantage of this for asking another question and claim for another help.
    I noticed that the bibliography of some citations are with the abstract. But I don't want the abstract in the bibliography.
    Could you help me to remove the abstract of these citations without doing it manually and to avoid it for future citations?
    Thank you
  • @guyllom6 -- sorry for the late reply, but better to ask new question in a new, separate thread so they don't get lost ("Start a New Discussion" at the top left).
    There, please mention which citation style you're using.
  • I still have the problem, and i've updated to the latest version for both connector and stadalone and zotero for firefox, nothing helps. however my another computer works well. any solution to solve this problem?
  • I'm still having this problem after trying above suggested fixes. I'm using the Zotero connector in Chrome and trying to save citations from Google Scholar. Getting this error

    [JavaScript Error: "Could not find BibTeX URL" {file: "eval at eval (chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/inject/translate_inject.js:50:4), <anonymous>" line: 544}]

    Any other troubleshooting suggestions?
  • report ID:1035476696

    I'm using Surface pro4, running the latest win10 (redstone), both the newest version of zotero standalone/zotero for firefox, and I can't capture items from google scholar recently on my Surface, while my another PC running Win7 works well.

    Each time when I wanna save an item from GOOGLE scholar, a windows pups up saying"An error occurred while saving this item. Check Known Translator Issues for more information". However I can save items from specific publisher page, only Google Scholar gets this trouble.

    I've try to updated my version, but nothing helps.

    the zotero connector plugin's option page shows an error report,saying:
    [JavaScript Error: "BibTeX not found." {file: "eval at eval (chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/inject/translate_inject.js:50:4), <anonymous>" line: 566}]

    It's really disturbing problem. Any solutions to solve it right now?
  • Have you tried restarting both your browser and Zotero Standalone? Which version of Standalone are you on? This issue definitely has been fixed.
  • Yes, I have restarted both browser, zotero standalone, and zotero for firefox, and even reinstalled the connector plugin for chrome and restarted my computer, nothing helps.

    my standalone version is 4.0.29.10 which is the latest one.
    And I have tried to update my firefox, chrome, zotero standalone and connector plugin for chrome. the issue still exist.

    the error report number is line:566 rather than line:544. something different from others posted before.
    Thank you!
  • I've tried restarting everything. I removed the Zotero Connector extension and reinstalled. I uninstalled Zotero standalone and reinstalled.

    Still getting the same error
  • we'd want specific URLs for errors that still persist.
  • URL:
    https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=zh-CN&q=pvb&btnG=&lr=

    Actually,no matter which item I wanna fetch, the issue still exist, as long as I'm saving items from Google Scholar.
  • works for me. Does clicking on
    引用, then on "BibTeX" show you something like
    @article{wain2001quantitation,
    title={Quantitation of bacteria in bone marrow from patients with typhoid fever: relationship between counts and clinical features},
    author={Wain, John and Bay, Phan Van Be and Vinh, Ha and Duong, Nguyen M and Diep, To Song and Walsh, Amanda L and Parry, Christopher M and Hasserjian, Robert P and Ho, Vo Anh and Hien, Tran T and others},
    journal={Journal of clinical microbiology},
    volume={39},
    number={4},
    pages={1571--1576},
    year={2001},
    publisher={Am Soc Microbiol}
    }
    ?
  • you mean insert an citation in Word in the style of BibTeX?

    I don't have this kind style, only "BibTeX generic citation style", and something like :
    Barbero_Cosso_Roman_Weadon_2013
  • no, I mean on the Google scholar page that you link to, click on 引用 under one of the entries, then on the link for "bibtex"
  • I can't open the link for "bibtex", and the other format links can't be opened, either.

    my another pc works well can open it.
  • that'd be why this fails. You'd have to track down why this isn't working -- it's basic google scholar functionality and Zotero relies on it; there's no alternative.
Sign In or Register to comment.