Psycinfo (OVID) export empty records

FrancisLacasse

In Psychinfo (through OVID), I use the "Export citation" function and choose the .RIS format to export my results in Zotero. Back in Zotero, a series of empty records always appears with the other records. It is easy to delete those empty records, but I would prefer that there would be no need for this. Any suggestion or solution ?

bwiernik

What exactly do you mean by "empty records"? In general, the best approach to importing from any website is to use the Save to Zotero button in your browser toolbar, rather than exporting a RIS file or similar. See here https://www.zotero.org/support/adding_items_to_zotero

FrancisLacasse

"Empty records" are records where there is no information in any of the fields. So, for instance, if after a search in PsycInfo, I select 1 reference and export it to Zotero through the "Export" function, in RIS format, Zotero will add 2 records : 1 with the correct information (author, title, etc.) and 1 with no information in any field.

In OVID PsycInfo, the "Save to Zotero button" in the browser toolbar will save the results page as a Web Page with Snapshot, and not as a list of references that you can select.

bwiernik

That shouldn’t be the case for the Zotero button. @adamsmith could you help me with debugging that?

adamsmith

I don't think I currently have access to any OVID databases, I'm afraid, so debugging would be hard.

As for the empty records: You're saying that happens with an export which just one item, right? Zotero imports the right item and an empty one? Could you download the export file for one item, open it with a text editor and paste its full content here?

FrancisLacasse

1 - As for the empty recods, it happens all the time, and with any number of references (as English is not my first language, I just wanted to give a simple case for fear of not being clear enough). So, in fact, if I export from PsycInfo a RIS file with 10 records, I would get as a result, 20 new records in my collection : 10 correct records + 10 empty records.

2 - Here is the content of the file exported (for 1 reference).

1.
TY - JOUR
ID - 2020-71320-001
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1802283
T1 - Resilience resources scale: A brief resilience measure validated with undergraduate students.
T3 - Journal of the American College Health Association
A1 - Julian, Melissa
A1 - Cheadle, Alyssa C. D
A1 - Knudsen, Kendra S
A1 - Bilder, Robert M
A1 - Dunkel Schetter, Christine
Y1 - 2020//
N2 - Abstract Objective This paper presents a theory-based brief resilience scale, the Resilience Resources Scale (RRS), and evidence for its factor structure, reliability, and validity in two studies of undergraduate students. Participants: Study 1 sampled 295 students and Study 2 sampled 244 students. Methods: Study 1 participants completed the RRS and other measures online at one of two time points eight weeks apart (n = 193), or at both time points (n = 102). Study 2 participants completed the RRS and other measures online on a single occasion. Results: Factor analyses provided evidence for a one-factor model. Results indicated high internal consistency and strong test-retest reliability. Evidence of concurrent and predictive validity is presented. Conclusions: The RRS measures resilience resources known to be protective of physical and mental health. This brief scale has sound psychometric properties in these initial studies of undergraduate students. We offer possible directions for use of the RRS in this and other populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
M3 - Health & Mental Health Treatment & Prevention [3300]
JF - Journal of American College Health
SP - No
EP - Specified
CY - United Kingdom
PB - Taylor & Francis
PB - United Kingdom
SN - 0744-8481
AD - Dunkel Schetter, Christine
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1802283
L2 - http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=psyc16&NEWS=N&AN=2020-71320-001
ER -
NL - J Am Coll Health

Link to the Ovid Full Text or citation: http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=psyc16&AN=2020-71320-001

dstillman

That's invalid RIS. "ER" means "end record", and it should be followed by either nothing or by another record beginning with "TY" (for type). Instead there's an "NL", which doesn't mean anything — that's not a valid tag. Zotero tries to be forgiving about the missing "TY" and defaults to Journal Article, and then ignores the meaningless NL and the missing ER:

10:32:31 RIS: TY tag not specified. Defaulting to journalArticle
10:32:31 Unknown field NL in entry :
NL - J Am Coll Health

If Ovid does this consistently, I suppose we could make the RIS translator a bit stricter about empty items, but it's very much incorrect, and you should really report it to them to fix.

dstillman

Also, though, Zotero supports the "Ovid Tagged" format. If you're able to export to that, that might work better.

(I don't have access to PsycInfo, but I have access to another Ovid database, and I can see if the save button is working there.)

FrancisLacasse

If I access to Medline through OVID, the "Save to Zotero button" in the browser toolbar will also save the results page as a Web Page with Snapshot, and not as a list of references that you can select.

Thank you so much for your help.

dstillman

The Ovid translator is largely just extracting the Ovid Tagged format, though, so in this case that's really the thing to try in the meantime. (The translator also tries to download the PDF if available.)

dstillman

So what they call "BRS/Tagged" is formatted a bit differently, but if you choose "EndNote" for the export format that actually incorrectly exports what we call "Ovid Tagged", and can be imported successfully into Zotero without empty records.

FrancisLacasse

1 - One solution that was offered to me is similar to the one you propose me. It consist in exporting the results, not in RIS format, or not even in "BRS/Tagged" format, but in "Reference Manager" format. This result in the creation of a .OVD file. I must then change the extension of this file from .OVD to .RIS file. And then open the file with Zotero. For me, the problem with this method is that the export function becomes a many steps operation (exporting files, locating it, changing the file extension, opening the file). In contrast, if I use the RIS format file, the process is much simpler and smoother: upon exporting the results, I just have to click on the name of the created file appearing in the task bar.

2 - It is worth noting that if I use the "BRS/Tagged" file format and then change the extension, I can not import it in Zotero : I receive the message that this format is not supported. That why, instead, I have to use the "Reference Manager format".

3 - Regarding the use of the "Save to Zotero button", this only result in one thing:
1 record is added in Zotero, with :
a) Document type: Webpage
b) Title : Ovid Search Form
and nothing else except the URL pointing on the OVID search page.

adamsmith

FWIW, 1. Shouldn't require changing the file extension -- Zotero doesn't even consider file extensions when importing
(edit to clarify: it does look at extensions when you double-click a file or download it from the web, but not when using "Import" from the menu)

dstillman

@FrancisLacasse: To be clear, that's just the same thing I said. Both the "EndNote" option I recommended and "Reference Manager" incorrectly export what we call Ovid Tagged, just with different filenames. You don't need to change the file extension. Just export and drag the file to the Zotero app icon in your taskbar/dock or go to File → Import in Zotero.

It is worth noting that if I use the "BRS/Tagged" file format and then change the extension, I can not import it in Zotero

Yes, as I say, BRS/Tagged is something different and won't work.