how to import json files

iPlay
Hello friends,

first of all I hope everyone is safe and healthy!?

I'm super new to Zotero but i'm getting more and more familiar with it everyday. I would like to use Zotero for my master and in the past i've always worked with .ris files. Now i'm struggling a little bit with a json file that i need to import. Sounds stupid, but how do i import a json file in Zotero? If i try to download a ris-file, the system asks me if i would like to import it in Zotero, nothing works with the json file.

really would appreciate some help, let me know if you guys need more explanation!
  • dstillman
    A JSON file isn't a specific bibliographic metadata format like RIS — it's just a generic data exchange format that can take any form. Where is the JSON coming from?
  • iPlay
    Thanks for the post! That makes a lot clearer!
    So the Json-file is from a database called BASE, it is a search engine connected to a database for bibliographic content. Part of my task is to export a newspaper article in ris and json. The goal ist to compare both formats and use them for a possible citation. As reference value I have a citation style based on APA, and with ris it was no problem for zotero. Currently I’m struggling because I don‘t really know what to do with the Json-file and how to import in zotero in order to get a citation out of it. Would it be helpful for you if I would upload the Json file somewhere?
  • dstillman
    You can upload it somewhere, but basically you're going to need to either convert it into a format that Zotero can import (but presumably that can support more data than RIS) or write a Zotero import translator that imports it directly.

    If the desired output is just citations, take a look at CSL-JSON as an intermediate format. Converting from arbitrary JSON to CSL-JSON would be fairly straightforward, and the point of CSL-JSON is to cover all fields necessary for citations.

    Either way requires coding, though, and isn't really something we can help with.
  • iPlay
    Actually I was thinking about the same, that it must be the Json file which can‘t be easily imported into zotero. One last question, because I ended up looking for a csl-Json file. How do I transform a standard Json export into a csl-Json? I‘m so sorry because I have limited knowledge in this case :/ was never facing this challenge before.
  • dstillman
    As I say, it would require coding. It would likely be fairly trivial, but if you don't know how to do it, you'd have to find someone who could code to do it for you.
  • iPlay
    Alright, got it! Thank you a lot, think this is going to challenge me for the rest of the week :D

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