Multiple sources from one author without a date of publishing, need a numbering

zoral
Hello,

I am looking for a solution to the following problem:
I have several sources from one author without a date. When I insert a citation in the text Zotero creates the same quotation for all citations:

In the bibliography:
Author 1 (n. d.): ABCD
Author 1 (n. d.): EFGH

In the text:
(Author 1 n. d.)
(author 1 n. d.)

Normally (if I know the year of publishing) Zotero automatically creates a numbering in a,b,c...

So:
Author 1 (2020a): ABCD
Author 1 (2020b): EFGH

and in the text:
(Author 1 2020a)
(Author 1 2020b)

Now I would like, so that a clear allocation of the sources is possible, this numbering also behind the n. d.:

Author 1 (n. d. a): ABCD
Author 1 (n. d. b): EFGH

and in the text:
(Author 1 n. d. a)
(Author 1 n. d. b)

I hope my problem is understandable and someone knows a solution? Would help me a lot!

Thank you!
  • djross3
    edited June 19, 2020
    I believe this should just work. If not, someone should be able to help you.

    1. What style are you using?
    2. How is "n.d." created? Is this automatically generated as part of the style? Are you entering it manually (where)? (That might be why it isn't working consistently.)
  • adamsmith
    I believe this should just work.
    Not quite, no -- suffixes after n. d. need to be added explicitly in the style and they're not in most styles.

    So yes, the answer to both Qs above would be helpful.
  • djross3
    Not quite, no -- suffixes after n. d. need to be added explicitly in the style and they're not in most styles.
    Ah, I was used to this working in some styles. Makes sense!
  • zoral
    Hey!

    I am using the style "Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien - Abteilung für Bildungswissenschaft (German - Austria)" and the style generates the n. d. automatically.

    Thanks for your help!!
  • zoral
    edited June 27, 2020
    found the solution!

    Just add: text variable="year-suffix" prefix=" "
    after: text term="no date"

    Now it is working :)
  • jim
    I have discovered this same issue. If I have multiple cited items by the same author that have no date, then references for each in the document appear as (Author n.d.) with no distinguishing letter.

    The citation style on the document is 'Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (author-date)'.

    Document is in Word (.docx). Operating system is Windows 10.

    The "n.d."s are being generated automatically by Zotero for items that have empty date fields.

    Interestingly, if the items have 'Accessed' dates, then they will get letter suffixes in the bibliography... but those are appended to the end of the accessed year, not to the "n.d." Also, the lettering system doesn't seem to be affected by whether the 'accessed' years are the same or not. I.e., even if there are two items withdifferent accessed years, they still get allocated a, b.


    ------

    Steps to reproduce:

    In Zotero:

    Create two blank items. (I used Item type = 'Document', but I've also tried with 'Manuscript' and 'Web page' and the error seems to persist.)
    Give each of these test items a different title.
    Give each the same author.
    Leave the date field blank.
    OPTIONAL: Set 'Accessed' dates for each item.

    In Word:

    Open a blank document.
    Add a citation to one of the test items.
    When asked what citation style to use, choose 'Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (author-date)'.
    Add a citation to the other test item.
    Add the bibliography.


    Here's an example of how this comes out in the document:




    (Author n.d.)
    (Author n.d.)

    Bibliography
    Author. n.d. ‘Quick Test Item 1’. Accessed 2 January 2019a.
    ———. n.d. ‘Test Item 2’. Accessed 1 January 2020b.


  • ErinHillis
    Hi Jim, I am having the same problem with Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition (author-date). I'm also in word and zotero automatically generates 'n.d.' if the date is empty.

    Did you find a solution?
  • chrislittle
    I am also having this problem. It doesn't seem logical to add the 'a' or 'b' or 'c' etc differentiation to the accessed on year that only appears in the bibliography rather than the 'n.d' element that appears both in-text and in the bibliography. This means that there is no differentiation in the text between n.d. references from the same source.
  • adamsmith
    Which style?
  • chrislittle
    Apologies for not including the style.

    It is Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (author-date). In this case it was for database entries, where the differentiator was added to the 'accessed on' element in the bibliography entry. For different types of item, such as books or journal articles, the differentiator is just not added at all to the in-text citation or bibliographic entry for sources with no date and the same author. In both cases, this means it is impossible to distinguish between these sources where cited in the text.
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