RIS fields not recognised by Zotero

neal_haddaway

Hi there, I'm trying to import an RIS field that has relevant information in the C1 field, but I can't get Zotero to display the field or include the field contents on export, so I assume the field isn't recognise.

Could someone help me out with which fields in an RIS Zotero imports and why some standard fields are ignored?

adamsmith

We're using this map: https://github.com/aurimasv/translators/wiki/RIS-Tag-Map-(narrow)
"C1" isn't really a "standard" field -- it's custom1

The import code is here: https://github.com/zotero/translators/blob/master/RIS.js (and as a .js file in the translators folder in your data directory, where you can customize it locally)

neal_haddaway

Thanks, Adam. Is there any reason non-standard fields are ignored? It wasn't clear from the map you linked to which fields are ignored by Zotero - are blank fields not used at all?

I'm leading a project that aims to store complete and transparent bibliographic database search histories within RIS files for transparent reporting of systematic reviews, and we are trying to embed information in a largely unused field, but Zotero is proving problematic because it is frugal with recognise fields. Do you have any advice on which fields would be amenable to including a text string that is not character limited, that holds JSON syntax, and that is infrequently used? I thought perhaps the Database field would be good to append to? Many thanks indeed

adamsmith

The table is just the RIS standard, so you can't directly infer Zotero behavior from it. Why would you not just put search info into a note, i.e. N1 or RN?

Zotero generally ignores fields it doesn't know what to do with (though on RIS import they do land in a note - are you not seeing that?). Given that existing fields are fixed, I'm not sure what else we'd do? Id guess Endnote imports all because RIS is quasi its native format, but do you e.g. get C1 imported in Mendeley?

neal_haddaway

Thanks Adam. Zotero is importing the notes, but it's inserting HTML formatting into the JSON structure - I guess because it treats notes separately... That then breaks import into other tools like EndNote. I'll try RN to see if it leaves that as it is.
Zotero is currently not reading in C1 at all.
Thanks!

adamsmith

RN will behave just like N1.
M2 imports into Extra, but that doesn't roundtrip (Extra isn't exported at all)
From the Zotero end, DB (--> Archive) and DP (--> Library Catalog) would work and roundtrip, so those might be options.
Also note that Zotero fields have character limits on sync, so you'll start breaking things if you import extensive JSON into random fields.

I understand that RIS is the most widely used bibliographic exchange format, but it's not a very well defined standard and implementations are unstable (e.g. Endnote changes what it does with specific RIS fields in irregular intervals). Zotero does a lot of guessing on both import and export, so you get unstable behavior.

I don't know your study set up, but if I were to curate systematic review data for reproducibility, I'd try to keep any search strings and the like out of the metadata export and list them in a separate csv file linked to the exported RIS (or whatever bib format you choose). That seems much more reliable and in the spirit of long-term reproducible research than essentially hacking an RIS field.