"Items in collection B not in collection A" use case

earcanal

As part of my literature searching workflow, I'd like to be able to do the following:

1. Import results from (for example) Web of Science
2. Filter into 'relevant' collection (A), by reading abstracts
3. Import another results set (B)
4. Use case: Remove members of B which are members of A
5. Go to 2, until done

In terms of implementation, there are many use cases which would benefit from set-wise operations on collections e.g. of papers on this topic which you should read (tag:influential), which ones have you read (intersection tag:haveread).

adamsmith

Would merging duplicates and then doing a (saved) search for Match = all
Is in collection A
Is in collection B

work? That'd give you a list of items in both collections you could e.g. then tag them with a colored tag and then quickly remove from collection B or something along those lines.

a.abdul-rahman

Hi Earcanal,

Have you managed to get a workable workflow to solve your comment above and earlier at https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/268546?

It is indeed an essential need in the Systematic Review process as citations are imported batchwise into Zotero as collections, and it is essential that duplicates can be removed from new collections where items already exist in earlier collections (or at least to identify duplicates by collection).

Thanks again for your efforts.

bwiernik

@a.abdul-rahman For a systematic review, I suggest leaving items all in their original import collections so that those numbers can be counted later. You should _merge_ (not delete) duplicate items using the Duplicate Items view (right click on the library icon of that special collection isn’t visible).

a.abdul-rahman

thanks. I can see that logic for the purposes of reporting.

The problem though is that Zotero is also used in the screening process and it is important at that stage to remove from a batch/tranch of titles all references/items that already exist in previous batches/tranches grouped in collections.

The duplicate items tool/collection, does not identify the collections the duplicate item is contained in.

bwiernik

You can identify the collection an item is in by following these instructions.
https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#identifying_collections_an_item_is_in

Note that you really shouldn’t delete items or remove them from collections. Just merge. If you are concerned about indicating what items have been screened/coded versus not, use colored tags to mark that and provide a visual indicator.
https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#colored_tags