ODF to markers creates multiple of same citation

JennK

I created a Word document with Zotero citations, and I am using LibreOffice and the Zotero RTF/ODF scan to change the citations to markers because I want to import the document to Scrivener.

The problem I am having is that after I have run the RTF/ODF scan and created the document with markers, there are some citations that are showing up in multiples.

Here is an example: { | (Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982) | | |zu:2016386:CKI88DWY}{ | (Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982) | | |zu:2016386:X346MLTK}{ | (Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982) | | |zu:2016386:YNDVLZ6F}.

It appears that the duplication is occurring only when multiple works are cited (e.g., Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982). If only a single work is cited (e.g., Gonzales & Domonoske, 2018), then there is no problem as only one marker appears for that work.

Does anyone have insight into why this might be happening and how I can correct it?

This does not occur for every citation, but enough so that I don't want to have to manually go through and delete the multiples.

Thank you.

fbennett

The citations there aren't actually duplicated, although it looks that way. Each is for a single item in the three-item citation cluster. You can tell that they are different items from the "zu" code at the end of each---the code represents a single item, and the code for each is different.

Although it's unsightly in this rough converted form, you can safely edit the citation text in parentheses, changing "(Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982)" to something like "(Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016)", and so forth. So long as you leave the brackets, vertical-bar characters, and "zu" codes as they are, the citation markers will process fine (or you can just leave the clutter there if it isn't too distracting).

JennK

Thanks, @fbennett. I do see that there are different codes in each marker, as you noted.

However, what I see when I compile the document in Scrivener, then go through the process of saving in LibreOffice, and doing the RTF/ODF scan, is that there are three sets of the same citation (using the above example).

Here is how it appears in the LO doc after doing the Zotero RTF/ODF scan:

(Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982); (Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982); (Lynch & Bertenthal, 2016; Marlowe, Lambert, & Thompson, 1999; Richardson & Campbell, 1982).

Am I missing a step?

fbennett

It will look like that immediately after opening the document in LO. Does it still look like that after refreshing citations?

adamsmith

I'm pretty sure you _are_ missing a step, yes, i.e. selecting a citation style in the document preferences. Until then, the citations are just placeholders and this isn't unexpected.

JennK

Thank you, @fbennett! Refreshing the document fixed it.
@adamsmith, I had selected the citation style - the citations were formatted correctly, there were just multiples of those containing multiple citations. But refreshing the document after the RTF/ODF scan, as @fbennett suggested, resolved that.