JSTOR - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't

Usually JSTOR works fine, and clicking the address bar page icon adds the reference and the PDF to Zotero. However, occasionally the icon in the address bar doesn't show up. It seems to happen on older articles for the most part. Is this a known bug? Planned fix? Quirk of my installation?

One example: http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8901(1997)34:1%3C65:ELBACG%3E2.0.CO;2-#&origin=sfx%3Asfx

Arseneault, D. et al. Estimating Lichen Biomass and Caribou Grazing on the Wintering Grounds of Northern Quebec: An Application of Fire History and Landsat Data. The Journal of Applied Ecology 34, 65-78(1997).

I'm running Zotero sync (latest version) and Firefox (latest version) on OSX (latest version).
  • Strange, I can access the article your URL and it does not work, but if I search Jstor I get a different link which works just fine.

    http://www.jstor.org/stable/2404848

    How did you get to this article? Through a search in Jstor? Or by some other means?
  • I have to enter JSTOR from my library's website to get access (wisc.edu) via their "Find It" service (http://sfx.wisconsin.edu/wisc/cgi/core/citation-linker.cgi?rft.genre=journalor) , so that's where the link comes from.

    I think (almost) everyone who uses places like JSTOR comes via a library unless they pay per article fees, so I would hope that the links should resolve correctly. The odd thing is, they usually do. I am trying to figure out what the defining characteristic is for the times they don't.

    Thanks :)
  • Great, if you haven't already you might try upgrading to Zotero 1.5. It has some powerful features for better built in proxy support.
  • I have Zotero 1.5-sync3.8. Does the sync version have the updated proxy support?
  • yes it does, so that is not fixing this for you. Please try to track down differences between URLS that work and those that fail.
  • The JSTOR translator will currently only show an icon for URLs that begin with "action/", "showArticle", "doBasicSearch", "doAdvancedSearch", "doLocatorSearch", "stable/", or "pss/" after the domain name.
  • Thanks Dan (and Tjowens),

    Is there anything I can do to "encourage" links from my library's tool to have such endings?

    And, why does the stable link (above) work without those endings?

    Thanks :)
  • And, why does the stable link (above) work without those endings?
    They're beginnings (after the domain name), not endings. "stable/" is in the list.

    The translator can probably be adjusted to recognize the URL you provided, but you should see if there are other variations that aren't currently supported.
  • Actually, I am the person who removed the "sici" links from the translator.

    New addressing scheme uses "stabe" links. It seems that there are some old links that still point to "sici" addresses. Try to click on the "item information" on the right side and you will be forwarded to a new valid address which is recognized by the translator.
  • I may be having a related JSTOR problem. If I do a search I get the folder icon at first, but if there is more than one page of results I do not see the icon on pages beyond the first one.
  • Thanks for reporting this. Ticket created.
  • edited May 3, 2009
    I published a (trivial) patch in another thread

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/390/jstor-site-translator-not-working/#Item_18
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