Double surname (last name has two words) bibtex export
Hello,
In my Zotero database, I have some publications in which the first author has a double last name such as "van Vleck" or "di Estos". I would like a way to enter the name into Zotero so that when exported as Bibtex it produces a bibliography like
di Estos (2010) ...
and not like
Estos (2010) ...
This can be accomplished by manually editing the bibtex and surrounding the surname in {} brackets. Like this.
author = "Uno {di Estos}";
But if I put the {} brackets in the surname field in Zotero, when I directly create a bibliography (not bibtex, but just e.g. drag the entry into an open office document), the generated bibliography includes the brackets in the generated bibliography like this.
{di Estos} (2010) ...
Which is obviously no good either. Is there an escape character or technique that can be used to fix it so both bibtex-export AND generate-bibliography do the right thing with double surnames (last names)? Or better yet, can the next release of Zotero automatically do the right thing just by having the surname bracketed in bibtex exports?
Thanks in advance. I hope I've been clear in describing what I'm after.
Cheers,
Matthew
In my Zotero database, I have some publications in which the first author has a double last name such as "van Vleck" or "di Estos". I would like a way to enter the name into Zotero so that when exported as Bibtex it produces a bibliography like
di Estos (2010) ...
and not like
Estos (2010) ...
This can be accomplished by manually editing the bibtex and surrounding the surname in {} brackets. Like this.
author = "Uno {di Estos}";
But if I put the {} brackets in the surname field in Zotero, when I directly create a bibliography (not bibtex, but just e.g. drag the entry into an open office document), the generated bibliography includes the brackets in the generated bibliography like this.
{di Estos} (2010) ...
Which is obviously no good either. Is there an escape character or technique that can be used to fix it so both bibtex-export AND generate-bibliography do the right thing with double surnames (last names)? Or better yet, can the next release of Zotero automatically do the right thing just by having the surname bracketed in bibtex exports?
Thanks in advance. I hope I've been clear in describing what I'm after.
Cheers,
Matthew
The conventions for data entry when the former (heuristic parsing) method is used are described in the processor manual. If the bibtex translator is made to apply the same heuristics, most cases should work correctly and -- when the new processor arrives -- names should format correctly in Zotero/CSL as well.
Entering { } brackets in the Zotero fields is not nice since they also appear in the document list and prevent a correct sorting...
Shouldn't Zotero enclose every name field (surname, first name, places, journal names etc.) into { } brackets during export as soon as two words are in there?
Example: I have a document, written by Richard Armstrong Jr. I type 'Armstrong Jr.' into the surname field, Richard into the first name field. When I export to BibTeX, Zotero can see the whitespace in the surname field and export {Richard {Armstrong Jr.}}.
That would be a cool feature.
Now I don't understand it anymore. If I don't include brackets in the name field, Zotero is not aware of double names. If I type the name with brackets Zotero adds additional brackets around the first part of the double name...
lastName: Gooding
firstName: Cuba, Jr.
This is as described in the processor manual linked above. The necessary adjustments should probably be made, in citeproc-js and in Zotero, and I'll certainly look into that at my end.
How name suffixes (and the three separate kinds of last name prefix recognized by CSL) are handled in BibTeX export, I don't know.
Good to hear that this issue is considered.
Entering the name as described above (or in the linked manual) gives {Richard, Jr. Armstrong} as BibTeX export. The comma is not processed but directly output...
Seems that I really need to use the brackets for the moment to get a pleasant BibTex output.
If you (or anyone else listening in) have an opinion on that, this would be the time bring it forward.
I've checked in a release of the citeproc-js source that enables name parsing by default. Its merger to Zotero may be delayed a bit if this names handling issue raises debate.
Unfortunately, I have no glue how important a correct recognition of the name is to Zotero itself. I only think it might be complicated to solve this whole topic with such little helpers as a comma at the right location. Different languages have different name conventions. Who knows where names have additional words? Think of something as 'Prof. Peter John-Boy van Doe Jr. III of Essex'. Sounds very strange but can we really exclude somebody wants to input this? It will be hard to tell Zotero what the surname, what the first name, what a suffix etc. is. But entering 'Prof. Peter John-Boy' into the first name and 'van Doe Jr. III of Essex' into the surname field would sort correctly and output to BibTeX correctly as long as the exporter puts brackets around the field entries.
Then I hope somebody of the export team reads this :)
The preferred way to export suffixes in BibTeX would be something like "Strunk, Jr., William". Comma-separated given and family names in the BibTeX files is the way to go. For the split field entry, this should be easy. For the single-field entry, more intelligent name parsing might be needed.
Anyway, in the meanwhile, until a nice solution is found, is need a work-around. And the only way I can think of (besides manually editing the BIB file afterwards) is to include those brackets.
Sure, Zotero is a manager, not a BibTeX-Creator. However, those two tasks are highly integrated and should flawlessly work together. At least for everybody I know having one of those functions without the other is of no use ;) Fortunately (and thanks to you), Zotero is very close to this optimum.
Tweaking BibTeX.js... Isn't this something I would need to do after every update of Zotero?
@ noksagt: Sorry, I searched half an hour but can't find the patch you have mentioned...
If I have the author:
van Vreeswik
Then for it to show up correctly in my document (both in text and reference list) in the author field I need to put {van Vreeswik} ?
If I put it in just as van Vreeswik (without the {}'s) then it just comes up as Vreeswik, with van added after the initials.
If I put in Van Vreeswik (capital V in Van) then it recognizes as a two-word surname.
So it seems not to recognize a two-word surname if the first word's letter is not capitalized.
I just want to confirm I am doing the correct thing and the {} is the only solution ATM?
I am using:
Zotero 2.1b2
PythonExt from zotero.org
Word for Mac Plugin for Zotero 2.1
MacWord Integration Trunk XPI
Martin.
I found the following:
Particles as part of the last name
The particles preceding some names should be treated as part of the last name, depending on the cultural heritage and personal preferences of the individual. To suppress parsing and treat such particles as part of the family name field, enclose the family name field content in double-quotes:
{ "author" : [
{ "family" : "\"van der Vlist\"",
"given" : "Eric",
"parse-names" : "true"
}
]
}
I'm not sure where to find the demote-non-dropping-particle option...
Now I'm not sure do I put """ or {} in the Author field, or is there an option somewhere to include the van as part of the author...?
Is there already a quick solution for the correct sorting of references with the first author having a last name consisting of two parts? I did not comprehend how I should solve this problem from the comments above..
Thanks
Ellen
<style xmlns="http://purl.org/net/xbiblio/csl" class="in-text" version="1.0" demote-non-dropping-particle="never" default-locale="en-US">
cheers!
ellen