Environmental science & technology (ES&T) style isn't totally right

I am new to zotero, and in the process of writing a paper to submitt to es&t.

I tried the style "Environmental Science & Technology", and also (as I found adviced somewhere) the "American Chemical Society (with titles, no "et al.")" (but it wasn't better).

The problem is small: it doesn't indicate the no., in parenthesis and normal character just after the volume, as (currently) indicated in ES&T author guidelines.

(Example from the guideline:
Travis, E. R.; Hannink, N. K.; van der Gast, C. J.; Thompson, I. P.; Rosser, S. J.; Bruce, N. C. Impact of transgenic tobacco on trinitrotoluene (TNT) contaminated soil community. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007 , 41 (16), 5854–5861; DOI 10.1021/es070507a.

(from: http://pubs.acs.org/paragonplus/submission/esthag/esthag_authguide.pdf )
Zotero would not give the "(16)")

Oh? I also see now that the ES&T example gives the DOI, which zotero does not in my document.

(and both fields are filled in zotero for the paper I am using as a test to make it work... So I really think the problem is that the style is defined in a way that is not in agreement with ES&T expectations)

(I tried to look a bit at the style codes, but I am not really used to this type of codes (it doesn't really look like matlab), and wasn't able so far to do the desired modifications...)

So it would be great if someone somewhere at some point would be so kind as to modify the style "Environmental Science & Technology" to make it in agreement with journal expectations...
  • from p. 19 of the style guide:
    For references to journal articles
    , an issue number after volume number is helpful but not
    mandatory. DOI numbers are also helpful but not mandatory
    Since these are not used in the ACS style that ES&T refers to otherwise, I'd prefer to leave them out so we can keep using ACS for this rather than create a separate style that needs to be maintained.
  • Ok. So the style is alright, sorry for my comment, I did not read the explanations carefully enough. :-S

    (PS: but "Environmental Science & Technology" is already a separate style (http://www.zotero.org/styles), or is it just using the same other ACS style, being the same with a different name?)
  • or is it just using the same other ACS style, being the same with a different name?
    this exactly.
  • Okay, great, thank you for the explanations!
  • Adam, I would go with including the issue number and here's why:

    1. ES&T says issue number is helpful but not mandatory, but then never says you should not. So, most authors I follow tend to include issue number (more is better approach).

    2. The ACS Style Guide (2006) makes this more clear on page 296 where it says:

    "
    For periodicals in which each issue begins with page 1, include issue information (either the number or the date) in the publication volume field. Issue information is set in roman type, enclosed in parentheses, and spaced from the volume number, which it directly follows.

    issue number
    Mullin, R. Chem. Eng. News 2005, 83 (42), 7.

    date of issue
    Mullin, R. Chem. Eng. News 2005, 83 (Oct 17), 7.
    "

    Given the general practice in ES&T, I'd vote for including issue numbers.
  • edited November 23, 2013
    Having thought about this some more, I am now pretty sure that including issue number in the ACS style guide (and ES&T and all connected guides) is the better approach unless Zotero has a field that catches whether each issue starts from page 1.

    To further elaborate, most journals (such as ES&T, Journal of Air and Waste Management Association) keep page numbers continuous within a volume and yet include an issue number. For these journals, omitting the issue number is okay. However, including the issue number is also okay since it does help zoom in on the article when browsing the journal website.

    But if there is a journal out there (I don't know of one) that has volume numbers and issue numbers and starts each issue with page 1, then, the current style will produce an incorrect citation because the issue number is required.

    So, in summary, for the want of a better solution, I'd rather include issue number than omit it. This is specifically true for ES&T because all the citation on their website of their own journal include issue number, which going strictly by ACS is not mandatory.
  • So, I tried editing the CSL for American Chemical Society (with titles, no "et al.") but could not make it work given my ignorance of CSL coding. I was able to locate the section in the code that seems like where the edit should be such that, for journal articles, I can get volume number AND issue number.

    Here's what the Style looks like presently:
    Zhai, H.; Frey, H. C.; Rouphail, N. M. A Vehicle-Specific Power Approach to Speed- and Facility-Specific Emissions Estimates for Diesel Transit Buses. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, 7985–7991.

    Here's what I'd like it to become:
    Zhai, H.; Frey, H. C.; Rouphail, N. M. A Vehicle-Specific Power Approach to Speed- and Facility-Specific Emissions Estimates for Diesel Transit Buses. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42 (21), 7985–7991.

    The part of the code that seems relevant:
    </else-if>
    <else-if type="article-journal">
    <group delimiter=" ">
    <text macro="title" suffix="."/>
    <text variable="container-title" font-style="italic" form="short"/>
    <group delimiter=", ">
    <text macro="issued" font-weight="bold"/>
    <text variable="volume" font-style="italic"/>
    <text variable="page"/>
    </group>
    </group>
    </else-if>
  • In the Style output, "volume" is in italics but "issue" is not in italics. This example is volume 42, issue 21.

    Hopefully, someone can provide the edited code which I can copy paste (with indentations fixed).
  • <group delimiter=", ">
    <text macro="issued" font-weight="bold"/>
    <group delimiter=" ">
    <text variable="volume" font-style="italic"/>
    <text variable="issue" prefix="(" suffix=")"/>
    </group>
    <text variable="page"/>
    </group>
  • A small step for adamsmith, a giant leap for gurdas.

    While trying to add the edited style to Zotero, I am getting a warning which may be harmless, but I'd like to check before I commit.

    I started by copying the original "American Chemical Society (with titles, no "et al.")" code to Notepad++. I then made the edits per your reply above, changed the <title>, and saved it as a .csl. But when I try to install it in Zotero, I get the message that it will over-write my existing "American Chemical Society (with titles, no "et al.")". I was hoping it will install a new style as per the new <title> which is "American Chemical Society (with titles + issue#, no "et al.")". Note that it validates successfully at http://simonster.github.io/csl-validator.js/

    I guessed the over-write warning may be because the <id> is same and so I changed it. Now, it no longer validates plus when I try to install, I get the message that it may not work. I do not get the over-write message though.

    Original ACS with titles no et al:

    <title>American Chemical Society (with titles, no "et al.")</title>
    <title-short>ACS</title-short>
    <id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/american-chemical-society-with-titles-no-et-al</id>;


    Which I changed to:
    <title>American Chemical Society (with titles + issue#, no "et al.")</title>
    <title-short>ACS</title-short>
    <id>american-chemical-society-with-titles-with-issue#-no-et-al</id>
  • edited November 24, 2013
    Please omit above comment. I repeated the steps exactly as listed above and it worked fine. It seems the first time around I had inserted a blank space in the text for the <id> field, which was causing the problems.
  • edited June 12, 2019
    I used the latest version of the ES&T style (5 Feb. 2018). Now, a ES&T editor is asking me to remove the "et al." from the references in the reference list and provide the full author list. This seems to imply that (unless my editor is claiming something wrong), there is a mistake in the Environmental Science & Technology style as it currently stands on the repository; the "et-al-min" must probably be changed. (I would be happy to correct that myself on my side, but I don't manage to get it correctly.)

    I tried adding:

    < bibliography et-al-min="3333" et-al-use-first="1111">
    < /bibliography>

    just above the:
    < /style>

    line

    but that is wrong according to: https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/wiki/Validation
    (That was probably too naive, but I don't understand csl.....)
    (I added the spaces after the "<" symbol here, otherwise it wouldn't display properly..)
  • E.g., the ES&T editor was not happy with the "et al." in this reference:

    Edenhofer, O.; Pichs-Madruga, R.; Sokona, Y.; Minx, J.; Farahani, E.; Kadner, S.; Seyboth, K.; Adler, A.; Baum, I.; Brunner, S.; et al. IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (UK) and New York (USA), 2014
  • Could you inquire of the editor why this doesn't apply?
    https://axial.acs.org/2018/02/01/review-ready-submission/

    We have been approached by the ACS publications office, which specifically requested that we only provide a single, standardized citation style for all ACS journals (as indicated in the above post), so the "no et al." versions of the ACS styles were removed.
    At the same time, ACS journal editors, clearly going against this policy, keep telling authors to fix their references to journal specific styles, putting us in an impossible situation. It'd be helpful to get some clarity on this.
  • edited June 13, 2019
    Thanks. I e-mailed them. I'll respond here once I get a reply.
  • Ok, you were right, here is their answer:

    "Thank you for your message regarding reference format for ES&T references. I apologize for the delay, but I needed to check with the journal's Editor-in-Chief's office to confirm our style policies.

    I spoke with the EIC office, and they let me know that it is fine for you to resubmit as-is. We have found that reviewers prefer full author lists because abbreviated lists often prevent us from knowing the identity of the senior author, but given your valid points about the broader review-ready submission policy, ES&T will stop requesting this information before review.

    Please let me know if you have any other questions.
    "

    Hence I can see why they were asking for the full list, but it sounds they will follow the policy that they had described you. Hence the ES&T style is fine as is, nothing to change, all is good, have a happy life and eat parsnips! (And thanks for the answer)
  • Great, thanks for getting back with that information -- we'll touch base with ACS if they'd be OK / prefer unabbreviated author lists in the general and we can then change the style generally. I understand that having the PI/lab owner in the reference is useful information.
    @Rintze you have the direct contact at ACS, could you ask?
  • ES&T is still requesting the full author list in my recent submission (12/2019). I would appreciate a response to Defarhes' question about how to edit the style to add in the full author list.
  • Hi Jesstro,

    I just recieved the same editorial comments from ES&T too. I have worked out how to manually fix this on Mendeley. If you follow the instructions in the link below you can edit your mendeley styles. For this I changed the Bibliography Layout (Far left) and set the following parameters.
    et-al-min 19
    et-al-use-first 18

    This solved the issue for me, I hope it helps you too

    https://www.mendeley.com/guides/using-citation-editor/06-changing-citation-styles

    G
  • @adamsmith
    Seems like it would make sense to take out the et-al settings, despite them contradicting themselves?

  • I received again the same editorial comment for another manuscript at the same journal.

    Would it be possible to provide the procedure to edit the ES&T style enabling authors to comply to these requests from the journal editors?
    (Or, alternatively, to update the style in the style repository?)

  • @damnation -- my current view is to just remove et al. from ACS style globally. @Rintze could you reach out to your contact at ACS and ask about that?
  • That makes sense, adamsmith.

    Thanks @Defarhes, @GFV17, @jesstro.
    While we are waiting on Rintze's input, I have suggested a fix. You can get the no-et-al style here. Right click, save as, install in Zotero: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/citation-style-language/styles/f1a49b3472b521fbb061eb8bb067f9025f61972a/american-chemical-society.csl

    (Note that your style will likely will be overwritten when Zotero updates. So utilise the style just before submitting the paper. We'll post here once the style is accepted on the global repository.)

  • Thanks damnation for the quick fix, this is very helpful to meet the current revision deadline!
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