After how many authors does an output style cut off with 'et al.'?

martijn55
I need to know how many authors are displayed in a bibliography as created by various output styles. When I hover over a style in the Zotero Style repository, it only gives a bibliography preview for references with one or two authors. Is there a quick way to see how that style handles 4, 6 or 60 authors?

Thanks!
  • fbennett
    I don't think there is a convenient UI for that at present. What parameters do you need?
  • martijn55
    The bibiliography preview now shows:
    Kötter P, Ciriacy M. Xylose fermentation ... ETC

    My problem would be solved if in the database from which this reference is derived, the number of authors would be increased to 10, e.g.
    Kötter P, Ciriacy M., Smith A., Jones B., Doe J, Brown C, ETC.

    If you prefer I can supply a 'real' reference with 10 authors.

    I could then see how many of the authors are displayed by each particular output style.
  • adamsmith
    The style syntax for that is really easy to understand, though, so that might be the easiest way to go:
    Look e.g. at the Vancouver style - it has a line
    <bibliography et-al-min="7" et-al-use-first="6"....
    (the relevant line will always start with <bibliography)
    This means that the style uses et al starting at 7 (i.e. more than 6) authors, and prints the first six authors.
    You can look at the syntax simply by clicking on the style (instead of the install link) in the repository.
  • martijn55
    adamsmith, fbennett: thanks for your comments! But I have obviously not made my problem clear.
    From time to time I need to scan several dozens or hundreds of output styles, to see which one fits my needs. Going into the syntax of 100 styles and noting down their relevant properties (punctuation, italics, abbreviations etc) is tiring and takes days.
    If I run my mouse over a style in the Zotero Style Repository, a pop-up appears with a sample bibliography that shows right away whether that style has the punctuation etc. that I need. But I cannot see how it handles multiple authors, because all the examples in the sample bibliography have at most two authors. That is why I asked for examples with more authors. All it takes is adding a few authors to the database from which the pop-ups originate.
    Or are those pop-ups only visible on Mac and not in Windows?

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.

Sign In or Register to comment.