Transportation Research Record (TRR): Updates needed to Zotero style

mmoran
There is currently a style in the Zotero Style Repository called “Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (TRR).” This style was last updated on 9/10/2012. This style should be based on TRB’s Information for Authors (IFA):

Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. (2012). Information for Authors: A Guide for Preparing and Submitting Manuscripts for Presentation at the TRB Annual Meeting and for Publication in TRB’s Journal. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. Retrieved from http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/AM/InfoForAuthors.pdf

It appears that some of the formatting in Zotero’s style sheet is not yet quite right, based on the TRB’s IFA. For example, according to TRB’s IFA, this is an example of a citation for a “TRB Publication,” which happens to be a journal paper:

(1) Dewan, S. A., and R. E. Smith. Creating Asset Management Reports from a Local Agency Pavement Management System. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1853, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp. 13–20.

Similarly, using one of the sources in my Zotero database, the TRB IFA would propose the following formatting for a “TRB Publication”/Journal Paper:

(2) Erhardt, G., F. Koppelman, J. Freedman, W. Davidson, and A. Mullins. Modeling the Choice to Use Toll and High-Occupancy Vehicle Facilities. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1854, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp. 135–143.

However, when I use Zotero to create the aforementioned citation, it comes out as this:

[2] Erhardt, G., F. Koppelman, J. Freedman, W. Davidson, and A. Mullins. Modeling the Choice to Use Toll and High-Occupancy Vehicle Facilities. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1854, 2003, pp. 135–143.

So, I see the following differences:

1. The number should be in rounded brackets, not square brackets.
2. The number should be italicized (although this is the most minor of the issues).
3. The journal name (in this case, “Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board”) should be preceded by the word “In.”
4. The publisher (in this case, “Transportation Research Board of the National Academies”) should be included in the entry.
5. The location of the publisher (in this case, “Washington, D.C.”) should be included in the entry.

It would be great if someone could make changes to the style sheet that would implement these changes, making the Zotero style sheet as close as possible to the TRB guidelines.

Thanks for your help and thanks for making and supporting such a wonderful piece of software!
  • adamsmith
    I'll look at the numbers - it seems like they should be (1) in the text and then 1. at the beginning of each item in the bibliography.

    Otherwise this is more tricky than you make it out to be. Look further down in the style guide under "Periodicals" where you find:

    Sansalone, M., J. M. Lin, and W. B. Streett. Determining the Depths of Surface-Opening Cracks Using Impact Generated Stress Waves and Time-of-Flight Techniques. ACI Materials Journal, Vol. 95, No. 2, 1998, pp. 168–177.

    which is exactly what Zotero does. They have an extra category for TRB publications, which we can't really accommodate (it's also an insane idea...), but you could try how it looks as a book section with "No. 1854" as an addition.
  • adamsmith
    the numbers are now fixed.
  • gnewmark
    I am very grateful for this style and for the recent changes. Is it possible to put in a style for newspaper articles? I think that treating them like journal articles would work fine and would save me a lot of recoding everytime I edit.

    Thank you very much
  • mmoran
    adamsmith,

    I think you are absolutely correct. TRB seems to be using two categories: one for journals and one for TRB publications. I'm not sure why they do it like that (personally, I would prefer they simply use an established style, rather than inventing their own). I think you have done a great job editing the the style within the constraints of the structure of Zotero. Thank you!

    I tested it out and I got this (the italicized number in the parentheses may not show up in this post as italicized):

    ************************************************

    This is a test (1).

    References

    1. Erhardt, G., F. Koppelman, J. Freedman, W. Davidson, and A. Mullins. Modeling the Choice to Use Toll and High-Occupancy Vehicle Facilities. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1854, 2003, pp. 135–143.

    *************************************************

    I think this is about the best one can hope for. Thank you for making the changes!
  • adamsmith
    TRR does now have newspapers
    The style is up now. It will show up on the repository at www.zotero.org/styles within 30mins.
    Any problems let us know.
  • gnewmark
    Dear Adam Smith,

    Thanks for adding newspapers! It really makes a huge difference for me.

    I appreciate it!
  • gnewmark
    I wanted to make another request. Can a style for Book Sections be added to the TRR style? Thanks again.

    On a sidenote, this citation style is a lifesaver. A huge percentage of my work is for the Transportation Research Board and I was not able to transition away from RefWorks to Zotero until this style became available.
  • adamsmith
    Can a style for Book Sections be added to the TRR style?
    generally yes. Do you have an example of a book section /chapter as cited in a TRR publication? If not, an informed suggestion how such a citation should look?
  • gnewmark
    I spoke to the Transportation Research Board (TRB)and was able to obtain their in house reference guide for the Transportation Research Record. Unfortunately, for some reason I was not able to put anything in this query in Italics, so I indicate where the italics should go somewhat clumsily when I introduce the reference type). You'll also note occasional notes from TRB as I copy and pasted their examples in to this entry.

    Here is the entry for editors and chapters in a book. This should sort out my Book Section query(title of the book should be in Italics):

    Editors

    An editor’s name follows the title of a work if the reference is to a paper inside the larger work. Otherwise, the editor’s name appears where the author’s name would appear, followed by “(ed.).”

    • Smith, J. (ed.). Title of book. Publisher, . . . .
    • Author’s name. Paper title. In Title of book (J. D. Edwards and L. Bones, eds.), publisher, . . . .

    Chapter in a Book

    Shunk, G. A. Urban Transportation Systems. In Transportation Planning Handbook (J. D. Edwards, Jr., ed.), Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1992, pp. 88–122.

    I found a few more literature types that are commonly cited (at least by me)and would be thrilled if you could add them.

    Newspaper Article (we had guessed before about how to do this, but here is the official approach - the name of the newspaper should be in italics)

    Eliminate any article preceding the name of a newspaper.

    Fairfax Weighs Buildup Around Metro Stations. Washington Post, Jan. 19, 2001, p. B1.

    Proceedings (nothing in Italics)

    Indicate where conference was held, the publisher (association), and location.

    Franklin, J. A. Safety and Economy in Tunneling. Proc., 10th Canadian Rock Mechanics Symposium¬, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Vol. 1, 1975.

    Mitchell, P. W. The Concepts Defining the Rate of Swell of Expansive Soils. Proc., 4th International Conference on Expansive Soils, Denver, Colo., Vol. 1, ASCE, New York, 1980, pp. 106–116.

    Regulation (The name of the regulation, in this case 'Federal Energy ...'should be in italics)

    U.S. Department of Energy. Federal Energy and Planning Programs: Methodology and Procedures for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis. Final rule. 10 CFR, Part 436, 1981.

    Thesis or Dissertation (Title of dissertation should be in Italics)

    Gonet, G. E. A Preliminary Investigation of the Fuel Consumption Characteristics of Freeway Ramp Metering. MS thesis. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 1979.

    Lord, D. The Prediction of Accidents on Digital Networks. PhD dissertation. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2000.

    Website (no Italics)

    Stevens, R. C. Testimony Before U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. Sept. 10, 1998. http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/statements/091098stevens.html. Accessed Oct. 5, 1998.

    FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation. Budget Estimates, Fiscal Year 2008. http://www.fhwa.dot.
    gov/budget/fy2008/index.htm. Accessed Jan. 14, 2009.

    Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. Annual Energy Outlook 2005 with Projections to 2025. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/archive/aeo05/index.html. Accessed March 3, 2006.

    Thanks again. I can not tell you how much this citation style is making me happy.
  • gnewmark
    In the previous post, I meant for the 'regulation' style to work for what Zotero calls statute. Thanks. If anything was not clear, please do not hesitate to contact me.
  • adamsmith
    The style changes are up now. They will show up on the repository at www.zotero.org/styles within 30mins.

    This should mostly work now - I think proceedings will look about right, but we currently can't address separate event and publication places.
  • gnewmark
    The styles all worked well. The one issue was that the book name for the book, from which I cited a chapter, was not italicized. I see I was not clear about that in my last post. Is it possible to make the book name italicized?

    Thanks again.
  • adamsmith
    sorry, I was travelling.
    The style fix is up now. It will show up on the repository at www.zotero.org/styles within 30mins.
    Any further problems let us know.
  • gnewmark
    Great. Thanks again.
  • thisisjoe
    Now they uses italics for the journal name, book name, government report, and website title. Current Zotero style does not italicize anything.

    http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/guidelines/authors.pdf, (p 12/24)

    Would you mind updating the style?
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